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THE  NEW  PLUTARCH 


JUDAS     MACCAByEUS 


THE  NEW  PLUTARCH. 

Lives   of  men  and   woinen   of  action. 


PRICE,      S^  1    O  O        P  E  U      VOLUME. 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN;     the    Abolition    of    Slavery.       With    a 

Portrait.      By  Charles  G.  Leland. 
COLIGNY  ;    THE   Failure  of  the   French  Reformation.      With  a 

Portrait.      By   Walter   Besant,   M.A. 
JUDAS    MACCABEUS    and    the   Jewish  War  of  Independence. 

By  Claude  Reignier  Conder,  R.E. 
VICTOR  EMMANUEL;  the  Attainment  of  Italian  Unity.      By 

Edward   Dicey,    M.A. 
JOAN   OF   ARC;     the  Expulsion  of  the  English   from  France. 

By  Janet  Tuckey. 
ALEXANDER    THE     GREAT    and     his    Age;     By   Rev.   W.  J. 

Brodribb,  M.A. 
THE    CALIPH    HAROUN    AL    RASCHID  ;    Saracen    Civiliza- 
tion.    By   Prof.   E.   H.    Palmer.   M.A. 
RICHELIEU  and  his  Court  ;    By  Walter  Herries  Pollock,  M.A. 
HANNIBAL  and  Carthaginian  Civilisation.     By  Samuel  Lee,  M.A. 
HAROLD  FAIR  HAIR  and  the  Scandinavians.       By   Erik    Mag- 

NllSSON,     M.A. 

CHARLEMAGNE   and   his  Time.     By   Prof.    Beesley. 
GUSTAVUS   ADOLPHUS.     By   Richard   Garnett. 
WHITTINGTON,  Lord  Mayor  of  London.     By  James   Rice, 


G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS, 

182      FIFTH      AVENUE',       NEW    YORK. 


AsKterotH  Karnwm 


.    SKETCH    MAP    OF    PALESTINE. 

SHOWING    PLACES   CONNECTED   WITH    THE    HISTORY    OF   JUDAS    MACCAB.«US. 


JUDAS  MACCABEUS 


AND     THE 


JEWISH  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE 


BY 


CLAUDE    REIGNIER  CONDER,  R.E. 


Can  these  bones  live  ?  " 


NEW  YORK 
G.    P.     PUTNAM'S    SONS 

182    FIFTH   AVENUE 
1879 


PREFACE 


n^HE  story  of  the  life  of  Judas  Maccabaeus  forms 
-■-  one  of  the  most  important  episodes  in  Jewish 
history,  if  only  because  it  explains  how  the  nation 
first  developed  that  peculiar  phase  of  character 
which  marked  it  at  the  time  when  Christianity  was 
given  to  the  world. 

The  sources  of  historic  information  upon  which 
I  have  mainly  relied  in  the  following  pages  are  the 
First  Book  of  Maccabees  and  the  Antiquities  of 
Josephus.  The  Second  Book  of  Maccabees  being 
generally  considered  to  be  far  inferior  in  value  to 
the  first,  and  its  statements  being  sometimes  in  direct 
contradiction  to  the  more  ancient  accounts,  has  con- 
tributed only  some  of  the  picturesque  details  with 
which  it  abounds. 

These  authorities,  however,  furnish  little  beyond 
the  dry  bones  of  history.  Some  attempt  has,  there- 
fore, been  made  in  this  volume  to  render  the  story 
more  vivid  by  aid  of  description  of  the  scenes  in 
which   it  was   laid,  and   of   the   contemporary  social 


6  Preface. 

and  religious  life  of  the  Jews.  The  Talmudic 
information  is  mainly  derived  from  the  well-known 
edition  of  the  Mishna  by  Surenhusius ;  and  the 
account  of  the  country  is  due  to  the  advantages 
I  enjoyed  during  the  survey  of  Palestine,  when  I 
was  able  to  visit  more  than  once  each  of  the 
battlefields  of  Judas. 

Finally,  I  have  attempted  to  give  a  slight  sketch 
of  those  results  of  the  great  struggle  which  appear 
most  important  in  relation  to  general  history,  and 
especially  as  connected  with  the  origin  and  growth 
of  Christianity. 

C.  R.  C. 

Guildford,  17M  May^  1879. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Introduction— From  Ezra  to  Simon,  .  .       9 

Chronological  -Table  of  Events,  .  .  18 

Chap.  I. — The  National  Life,  .  .  .20 

II. — The  National  Religion,  .  .  51 

III.— The  Revolt.     170  b.c— 165  e.g.,      .  .      76 

IV.— The  Victories  of  Judas.     164  e.g.,      .  106 

v.— Defeats  AND  Death  OF  Judas.  163-161  e.g.,    134 

VI.— The  Surviving  Brothers.    161-114  e.g.,         161 

VII.— The  Results  of  Independence,     .  .185 

Appendix.— Genealogy  of  the  Hasmonean  Family,  216 


ERRATA 


p.     29,  line    5. — For  "Shofah,"  read  "Shofar." 

P.     30,  line  27. — For  "  Mishnaioth,"  read  "  Mishmaroth. 

P.  169,  line  25. — For  "Meridarch,"  read  "Meridiarch." 


N  OF  aNTIOCHUS  EPIPHANES. 


JUDAS    MACCABEUS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


FROM     EZRA     TO     JUDAS. 

JUDAS  MACCABEUS  is  the  central  figure  of  one 
of  the  most  important  periods  of  Jewish  history — 
a  time  when  the  nation  struggled  successfully  to 
attain  independence,  and  during  which  the  germs  of 
the  later  Jewish  religious  development  first  appeared, 
and  the  foundation  was  laid  of  that  condition  of 
Jewish  society  which  existed  in  the  time  of  Christ. 

The  public  career  of  Judas  extends  only  over  eight 
years,  and  the  work  he  commenced  was  left  to  his 
brothers  and  their  descendants  to  carry  out ;  yet  the 
name  of  Judas  stands  out  more  distinctly  than  that 
of  any  other  leader  of  the  age,  and  Jewish  historians 
of  later  times  have  ever  loved  to  magnify  his  doings, 
even  at  the  expense  of  the  later  Hasmoneans,  whose 
actual  achievements  were  more  important. 


lo  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

It  cannot,  however,  be  said  that  this  high  estimate 
of  Judas  is  unjust.  The  later  conquests  may  have 
been  more  extensive,  and  the  position  of  the  later 
native  Jewish  princes  may  have  been  more  indepen- 
dent and  politically  stronger.  But  it  was  Judas  who 
first  dared,  to  withstand  the  foreign  tyranny  which 
threatened  to  annihilate  the  Jewish  faith,  and  it  was 
the  genius  of  Judas  which  first  pointed  out  the 
measures,  military  and  political,  by  which  indepen- 
dence might  be  best  preserved.  The  later  Hasmoneans 
merely  carried  out  the  designs  of  which  Judas  was 
the  original  author,  and  he  may,  therefore,  be  justly 
regarded  as  the  father  of  Jewish  freedom. 

In  the  following  pages,  I  have  attempted  not  only 
to  narrate  the  bare  facts  of  the  short  career  of  Judas, 
but  also  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  gradual  development 
of  the  nation  during  the  period  of  independence,  from 
Ezra  to  the  Herodian  age,  with  some  account  of  their 
habits  of  life,  their  manners,  and  their  religious  contests 
and  tendencies,  and  with  an  estimate  of  the  true  value 
of  the  achievements  of  Judas,  as  influencing  the  later 
history  of  the  Jews.  From  a  study  of  the  condition 
and  habits  of  the  nation,  we  obtain  a  clear  view  of 
the  imm.ediate  causes  of  the  revolt,  and  the  real 
importance  of  the  struggle  will  be  seen  to  lie  in  the 
development  of  the  national  character  and  religion, 
which  was  the  result  of  the  freedom  obtained  by  the 
efforts  of  Judas. 


Alexande7^  the  Great.  \\ 

In  order  to  understand  the  causes  of  the  revolt,  it 
is  necessary,  first,  briefly  to  review  the  history  of  the 
nation  from  the  time  of  their  return  from  captivity. 

The  book  of  Nehemiah  closes  about  the  year  435 
B.C.  At  this  time,  the  nation  was  once  more  re-estab- 
lished in  its  native  country,  the  city  and  the  Temple 
had  been  rebuilt,  and  the  office  of  the  high  priest- 
hood was  once  more  constituted. 

The  immediate  successors  of  Ezra  the  scribe  are 
known  in  Jewish  history  as  "  the  men  of  the  great 
synagogue,"  and  were  regarded  with  a  veneration 
inferior  only  to  that  shown  for  the  great  men  whose 
works  close  the  historical  canon  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. But  little,  however,  is  to  be  gathered  of  the 
history  of  the  nation,  or  of  its  chief  men,  during  the 
century  which  intervened  between  the  time  of  Nehe- 
miah and  that  of  Alexander  the  Great ;  and  one  short 
chapter  only  is  devoted,  by  Josephus,  'to  the  time 
between  the  death  of  Eliashib,  the  High  Priest  of  the 
time  of  Nehemiah,  and  the  visit  of  Alexander  to 
Jerusalem.  It  appears  that  during  this  century  the 
nation  remained  peacefully  content  under  the  Persian 
rule,  in  enjoyment  of  religious  freedom,  and  governed, 
to  a  certain  extent,  by  native  chiefs. 

In  the  year  333  B.C.,  the  news  of  the  advance  of 
Alexander  the  Great  spread  consternation  in  the 
Holy  City,  and  the  report  of  his  cruelties  to  the 
people  of  Tyre  overawed  the  Jews,  and  deterred  them 


12  Judas  MaccabcBiis. 

from  any  ideas  of  resistance.  Ambassadors  were 
sent  to  meet  the  conqueror  in  the  plain  of  Sharon  ; 
and  as  he  approached  Jerusalem,  a  long  procession  of 
priests  and  elders,  headed  by  the  venerable  High 
Priest  Jaddua,  went  out  to  await  his  arrival  on  the 
plateau  of  Scopus,  whence  the  advancing  army  could 
be  seen  in  the  distance,  and  where  Jerusalem  first 
struck  the  sight  of  the  conqueror. 

The  wisdom  and  magnanimity  of  Alexander  were 
on  this  occasion  specially  evinced.  He  received  in  a 
friendly  manner  the  proffered  submission  of  the  Jews, 
and  showed  the  greatest  deference  to  their  religious 
scruples.  Under  the  guidance  of  the  priests,  he 
offered  sacrifices  in  the  Temple — probably  without 
transgressing  the  law  which  forbade  strangers  to 
enter  the  inner  court — and  he  treated  the  High 
Priest  with  marked  respect.  Thus,  by  tact  and 
toleration,  he  secured  the  friendship  of  a  nation  which 
had  so  often  resisted  the  greatest  monarchs  of  the 
Old  World,  and  Palestine  passed  without  a  struggle 
from  the  rule  of  Persia  to  that  of  Greece. 

The  visit  of  Alexander,  so  long  remembered  by  the 
Jews,  had  an  influence  of  unexpected  importance  on 
their  future  history  ;  for  from  the  time  of  that  visit 
dates  the  establishment  of  a  Jewish  colony  in  Egypt, 
and  the  foundation  of  a  new  religious  sect. 

From  Jerusalem,  Alexander  marched  to  Egypt, 
and  was  accompanied  by  a  considerable  Jewish  con- 


Alexaiidi'ia  Founded.  13 

tingent,  enlisted  with  the  understanding  that  they 
were  to  be  permitted  to  adhere  to  their  own  law  and 
customs.  In  return  for  the  valuable  services  of  this 
force,  Alexander  conceded  to  them  equal  civic  rights 
with  the  Macedonians  ;  and  after  he  had  founded 
Alexandria,  tracing  its  walls  with  his  own  hands,  he 
allotted  a  separate  quarter  in  that  city  to  the  Jews. 

In  the  year  324  B.C.  Alexander  the  Great  died — 
the  great  horn  of  the  rough  goat  was  broken  (Daniel 
viii.  21),  "and  for  it  came  up  four  notable  ones 
towards  the  four  winds  of  heaven" — ver.  8.  Palestine 
became  part  of  the  Asiatic  kingdom  of  the  family  of 
Seleucus  reigning  in  Antioch,  and  Egypt  was  given 
to  the  Ptolemies. 

The  first  Ptolemy  (son  of  Lagus)  took  Jerusalem  in 
the  following  year,  entering  it  as  though  to  offer 
sacrifice  on  the  Sabbath  day.  He  also  attacked  and 
conquered  Samaria,  and  led  as  prisoners  to  Alexan- 
dria a  great  number  of  both  Jews  and  Samaritans, 
who  increased  the  colony  already  founded. 

The  next  important  episode  in  Jewish  history 
occurred  in  277  B.C.,  when,  by  the  request  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  Eleazar,  the  High  Priest,  sent  the 
seventy  elders  to  Egypt  to  translate  the  Pentateuch 
into  Greek. 

Under  the  earlier  Seleucidae,  Palestine  attained  to 
a  condition  of  prosperity,  and  the  Jews  to  political 
consideration,  far  beyond  that  enjoyed  under  Persian 


14  Judas  Maccab(2iis. 

rule.  The  Asiatic  successors  of  Alexander  pursued 
the  same  system  of  religious  toleration  which  he  had 
inaugurated,  and  the  relations  between  the  orthodox 
Jews  and  the  heathen  world  were  more  friendly  than 
at  any  previous  or  subsequent  period. 

The  attention  of  the  Seleucidse  was,  moreover, 
engaged  with  external  affairs.  Antiochus  the  Great 
was  attacked  by  the  Romans,  and  defeated  at  Thermo- 
pylae, and  was  forced  to  send  his  son  Antiochus 
(famous  afterwards  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
revolt)  as  a  hostage  to  Rome.  In  the  year  176  B.C. 
Antiochus  the  Great  died,  and  his  son  Seleucus,  who 
succeeded  him,  was  shortly  afterwards  murdered, 
leaving  as  rightful  heir  to  the  throne  a  son  named 
Demetrius  :  but  Demetrius  was  in  Rome  at  the  time, 
where  he  had  been  sent  by  his  father  to  take  the 
place  of  his  uncle  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  younger 
son  of  Antiochus  the  Great.  Thus  the  opportunity 
presented  itself  to  Epiphanes  of  seizing  the  throne  of 
the  Seleucidae,  and  of  usurping  the  rights  of  his 
absent  nephew — an  opportunity  which  a  man  so  bold 
and  unscrupulous  was  not  slow  to  seize. 

Meanwhile,  Palestine  had  been  given  away  by 
Antiochus  the  Great,  as  the  dower  of  his  daughter 
Cleopatra,  who  was  married  to  Ptolemy  Epiphanes, 
King  of  Egypt.  The  first  act  of  the  new  king, 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  was  to  set  aside  this  arrange- 
ment ;  and,  immediately  after  his  accession,  he  entered 


Antiochus  Epiphanes.  15 

Palestine  and  assumed  control  over  its  affairs,  instal- 
ling a  new  high  priest  at  Jerusalem  in  the  year 
172  B.C.    ' 

The  internal  dissensions  of  the  Jews  now,  unfortu- 
nately, drew  attention  to  their  affairs.  They  had  no 
longer  to  deal  with  a  wise  and  great  monarch,  but 
with  a  man  of  so  violent  and  unscrupulous  a  character 
that  he  would  allow  no  obstacle  to  baulk  him  of  his 
will,  and  no  considerations  of  justice  or  policy  to 
restrain  his  lawless  tyranny.  By  his  enemies,  An- 
tiochus Epiphanes  was  named  Epimanes  —  "the 
frantic" — and  the  title  was  well  earned  by  the  reck- 
lessness of  his  expenditure,  the  intolerance  of  his 
persecutions,  and  the  folly  of  his  projects  of  govern- 
ment. 

The  High  Priest,  Onias  the  Third,  died  in  the  year 
176  B.C.,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Jesus,  or 
Jason.  Onias  also  left  a  son  named  Onias,  and  had 
a  third  brother  named  Menelaus,  and  these  two  latter 
became  also  claimants  for  the  office  of  the  high- 
priesthood. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  took  the  part  of  the  younger 
brother,  Menelaus.  He  had  been  sent  by  Jason,  the 
rightful  heir,  to  Antioch  with  a  present  of  600 
talents,  but  proved  unfaithful  to  his  trust,  and  with 
a  bribe  of  900  talents  induced  the  new  usurper  to 
favour  his  own  claim.  On  his  first  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
in  172  B.C.,  Antiochus  installed  Menelaus  in  the  office, 


1 6  Judas  Maccabceiis. 

and  Jason,  though  supported  by  the  public  voice,  was 
forced  to  fly  to  the  land  of  the  Ammonites. 

Antiochus,  becoming  engaged  in  a  quarrel  with 
Egypt,  made  four  successive  expeditions  from  Antioch 
against  that  country,  in  every  case  passing  down  the 
coast  of  Syria,  and  thus  inflicting  more  or  less  misery 
on  its  inhabitants.  In  the  year  170  B.C.,  during  the 
second  of  these  campaigns,  he  attacked  Pelusium, 
took  Memphis,  and  would  probably  have  subdued 
Alexandria,  but  for  the  warning  he  received  from  the 
Romans,  which  forced  him  to  retire  under  pain  of 
their  displeasure.  Thus,  with  a  treasury  impoverished 
by  reckless  expenditure,  and  with  a  discontented  and 
mutinous  army,  he  once  more  reached  the  plains 
below  Jerusalem. 

Unfortunately  for  the  Jews,  a  report  had  spread 
that  Antiochus  had  been  slain  in  Egypt,  and  Jason, 
assisted  by  a  large  party,  had  surprised  Menelaus  in 
Jerusalem,  and  had  shut  him  up  in  the  stronghold  of 
the  city.  This  revolution  afforded  to  Antiochus  the 
pretext  which  he  was  only  too  anxious  to  seize. 
During  his  former  visit  he  had  become  acquainted 
with  the  wealth  of  the  Jerusalem  Temple,  and  from 
his  father  he  had  learned  to  consider  such  riches  as 
legitimate  plunder,  Antiochus  the  Great  having  set 
the  first  .example  in  his  attempt  to  sack  the  Temple 
of  Diana  in  Elymais. 

On   hearing  of  the  return   of  Jason,  the  army  of 


yerusalem  Sacked,  \y 

Antiochus  advanced  on  Jerusalem,  and  was  admitted 
by  the  faction  which  supported  Menelaus.  Thus 
Jerusalerh  was  taken  without  a  siege,  and  at  once 
delivered  over  to  be  sacked.  A  general  massacre  of 
the  inhabitants  of  every  age  and  sex  ensued,  the 
public  buildings  were  burnt,  the  Temple  was  dese- 
crated, great  numbers  of  Jews  were  taken  captive 
to  be  sold  in  Antioch,  the  golden  candlestick,  the 
altar  of  incense,  all  the  sacred  vessels,  and  even  the 
veils  and  crowns  of  the  sanctuary,  were  carried  away. 
Menelaus  was  once  more  installed  as  High  Priest,  and 
a  Phrygian  governor  was  left  to  assist  him.  The 
unhappy  Jason  fled  to  Egypt,  and  afterwards^  to 
Sparta,  where  he  died,  and  Antiochus,  in  the  words  of 
the  Book  of  Daniel,  returned  "into  his  land  with 
great  riches." — Dan.  xi.  28. 

Such  were  the  events  immediately  preceding  the 
revolt,  which  broke  out  two  years  later  at  Modin.  In 
order  more  clearly  to  appreciate  them,  a  table  of 
dates  and  principal  events  is  appended  to  this  Intro- 
duction. Having  thus  briefly  narrated  the  history 
leading  up  to  the  first  scene  of  our  hero's  life,  we  may 
now  glance  at  the  social  and  religious  condition  of 
the  nation  at  his  time,  before  we  proceed  to  the  story 
of  his  own  brief  but  eventful  career. 


18 


Judas  MaccabcBiis, 


Chronological  Table  of  Events  from  Ezra  to  Simon  the 


B.C. 

466 
460 
447 
435 
424 

405 
359 
338 
334 
333 
324 
313 
310 

305 
302 
285 
277 
276 
263 
250 

248 

247 
228 
225 
222 
219 
205 
199 
181 
176 
172 
170 
168 
165 


Hasmonean. 

Accession  of  Artaxerxes  Longimanus. 
Ezra  sent  to  Jerusalem. 
Nehemiah  sent  to  Jerusalem. 
End  of  the  Book  of  Nehemiah. 
Accession  of  Darius  II, 

,,  Artaxerxes  II. 

,,  Ochus  I. 

,,  Arogus  I. 

„  Darius  III. 

Alexander  visits  Jerusalem. 
Death  of  Alexander. 
Era  of  the  Seleucidse. 

Accession  of  Ptolemy  I.,  son  of  Lagus. 

,,  Antiochus  I.,  Soter. 

, ,  Ptolemy  II. ,  Philadelphus. 

The  Septuagint  translation  made. 

Accession  of  Antiochus  II.,  Theos. 
Antigonus  of  Soccho  President  of  the 

Sanhedrim. 
Accession  of  Seleucus  II. 

Ptolemy  III.,  Euergetes. 

Seleucus  III. 

Antiochus  III.,  the  Great. 

Ptolemy  IV.,  Philopater. 

Ptolemy  V.,  Epiphanes. 
Joseph  farms  the  taxes  (Ant.  xii.  4). 
Jose  ben  Joasus  President  of  Sanhedrim. 
Accession  of  Ptolemy  VI.,  Philometer. 
,,  Antiochus  Epiphanes. 

Antiochus  takes  Jerusalem. 
Revolt  of  the  Jews. 
Restoration  of  the  Temple. 


Eliashib  High  Priest. 
Joida  11.  High  Priest. 

Jonathan  I.  High  Priest. 

Jaddua  High  Priest. 
Onias  I.  High  Priest. 

Simon  I.  High  Priest. 

Eleazar  II.  High  Priest. 
Manasseh  High  Priest. 

Onias  II.  High  Priest. 


Simon  II.  High  Priest. 

Onias  III.  High  Priest. 

Jason  High  Priest, 
Menelaus  High  Priest. 


Chronology.  ig 


163     Sabbatic  year.    Antiochus  V.,  Eupator, 

takes  Jerusalem. 
162     Accession  of  Demetrius.  Alcimus  High  Priest. 

161     Death  of  Judas  Maccabseus. 
160    Joshua  ben  Pheraki  President  of  the 

Sanhedrim.  Jonathan  High  Priest. 

143     Simon  IH.  Ethnarch  of  the  Jews  and 

High  Priest. 
142     First  year  of  Jewish  independence. 

N.B. — This  table  is  taken  from  that  given  by  Mr.  F.   R.  Conder  in  "  Cassell's 
Bible  Educator." 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE     NATIONAL     LIFE. 

"AS  for  ourselves,  therefore,  we  neither  inhabit  a 
-^  maritime  country,  nor  do  we  delight  in  mer- 
chandise, nor  in  such  a  mixture  with  other  men  as 
arises  from  it ;  but  the  cities  we  dwell  in  are  remote 
from  the  sea,  and  having  a  fruitful  country  for  our 
habitation,  we  take  pains  to  cultivate  that  only.  Our 
principal  care  is  this — to  educate  our  children  well, 
and  we  think  it  to  be  the  most  necessary  business  of 
our  whole  life  to  observe  the  laws  that  have  been 
given  us,  and  to  keep  those  rules  of  piety  that 
have  been  delivered  down  to  us." — Josephus  contra 
Apion,  i.  12. 

Such  is  the  description  which  Josephus  gives 
of  Jewish  life  in  his  own  time.  He  represents  his 
fellow-countrymen  as  agriculturists  rather  than  traders, 
and  as  intent  chiefly  on  the  observance  of  the  Law 
of  Moses.  -Such  an  account,  though  given  as  repre- 
senting the  national  life  in  the  Herqdian  age,  must 
evidently   apply   still    better    to   the    less   advanced 


Absence  of  a  Middle  Class,  21 

civilisation  of  the  earlier  period  now  under  considera- 
tion ;  and  so  conservative  is  the  Eastern  character, 
that  we'  find  the  Jews  hardly  advanced  in  the  time  of 
the  Hasmoneans  from  the  simplicity  of  the  social 
system  in  the  first  days  of  the  consolidation  of  the 
nation  under  Samuel ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
find  in  the  peasant  life  of  modern  Palestine  an  almost 
exact  reproduction  of  that  of  the  lower  classes  at  the 
period  under  consideration. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  peculiarities  of  the 
social  system  of  the  Jews  seems  to  have  been  the 
entire  absence  of  the  middle  class — that  important 
estate  which  grows  gradually  with  the  advance  of 
civilisation  and  with  the  development  of  trade.  The 
nation  seems  to  have  been  divided  in  the  second 
century  before  Christ  into  two  classes — the  educated 
and  the  ignorant — the  priests  and  townsmen  of  higher 
rank  belonging  to  the  one,  the  villagers  and  agricul- 
tural population  to  the  other. 

The  division  is  almost  as  marked  at  the  present 
day  as  it  was  then,  and  the  upper  class  speak  of  the 
Fellah,  or  "tiller,"  with  a  contempt  which  reminds 
one  of  the  Jewish  scorn  of  the  "  untaught"  and 
"  beasts  of  the  people." 

The  upper  class  consisted  of  that  "  holy  seed " 
which  was  able  to  trace  back  its  genealogy  to  the 
time  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  it  included  the  families  of  the  twenty-four 


22  Judas  MaccabcBUs. 

orders  of  priests.  The  lower  class  of  the  Hidiiit,  or 
"  ignorant,"  consisted  probably  in  great  measure  of 
the  descendants  of  the  aboriginal  Canaanite  popula- 
tion, mixed  with  the  Philistine,  Cuthean,  or  Phoenician 
elements  in  the  southern,  central,  and  northern  dis- 
tricts of  the  land  respectively. 

In  sketching  the  national  life,  we  have  thus  to 
consider  separately  that  of  these  two  distinct  classes, 
which,  though  living  together  and  forming  one  nation, 
were  yet  distinguished  by  their  language  and  their 
religion  not  less  than  by  their  occupations  and  social 
position. 

The  language  of  the  mass  of  the  people  was  no 
longer  Hebrew,  but  Aramaic,  and  the  classic  tongue 
in  which  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  were  written  was 
unintelligible  to  the  lower  class.  As  early  as  the  time 
of  Ezra  a  translation  of  the  holy  books  was  required, 
as  we  find  recorded  in  the  famous  passage  where  it  is 
related  that  "they  read  in  the  book  in  the  law  of 
God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused  them  to 
understand  the  reading." — Neh.  viii.  8.  To  this 
system  of  interpretation  the  origin  of  all  the  later 
Targums  is  traced,  for  they  were  at  first  paraphrases 
in  Aramaic,  which  gradually  became  formulated,  and 
which  finally  were  committed  to  writing  after  the 
Christian  era. 

Popular  sayings  and  proverbs  are  said  to  have  been 
preserved  in  Aramaic  from    an  even   earlier  period 


Characters  used  in    Writing,  23 

than  the  Hasmonean  times,  and  this  dialect  remains 
even  now,  with  but  slight  modification,  the  language 
of  the  Fellahin  in  Palestine. 

The  language  of  the  educated  was  the  "tongue  of  the 
Holy  House,"  the  original  Hebrew  of  the  times  before 
the  captivity.  It  stood  to  Aramaic  somewhat  in  the 
relationship  of  Latin  to  Italian,  and  became  the  sacred 
literary  language  in  which  the  earlier  comments  on 
the  Law  were  written. 

The  character  generally  employed  in  writing  at 
this  period  appears  to  have  been  the  ancient  Libonai, 
resembling  the  Phoenician :  the  square  character 
was  however  also  employed,  exclusively  for  sacred 
writing.  Coins  struck  after  the  revolt  still  exist, 
with  inscriptions  in  the  earlier  forms  approaching  the 
Phoenician,  Moabite,  and  Samaritan  letters.  The 
Jews  assert  that  the  square  letters  were  introduced 
by  Ezra,  and  state  that  the  classic  language  and  the 
square  letters  were  used  by  the  learned,  but  the  old 
letters  and  the  Chaldean  or  Aramaic  tongue  by  the 
ignorant;  "and  who  are  the  ignorant.'*"  the  writer 
continues — "  they  are  the  Cuthim."  If  the  Jewish 
assertion  be  correct,  the  square  alphabet  must  at  this 
early  period  have  been  considered  sacred,  and  was 
not  used  for  any  secular  purpose  such  as  that  of  the 
stamp  on  coins. 

An  inquiry  into  the  life  of  the  educated  class  of 
Jews   in   the   second   century   before   Christ    should 


24  Judas  MaccabcBMS, 

include  some  account  of  the  system  of  government 
and  of  education,  the  condition  of  the  sciences  and 
arts,  of  manufactures  and  commerce.  A  few  words 
may  first  be  said  on  these  questions  before  describing 
the  customs  of  the  larger  class  of  the  Hidhit,  or 
*'  ignorant" — the  mass  of  the  people  who  were  engaged 
purely  in  agricultural  and  pastoral  occupations. 

The  central  idea  of  Jewish  government,  religious 
or  civil,  and  of  Jewish  education,  moral  or  intellectual, 
was  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law.  Education  meant 
knowledge  of  the  Law  ;  Government,  the  enforcing  of 
the  Law;  Policy,  the  application  of  the  Law  to  relations 
with  the  heathen.  The  commands  of  Moses  formed 
the  standard  by  which  the  value  of  everything  was  to 
be  measured,  and  the  rule  by  which  all  action  was  to 
be  guided. 

The  Jews  under  Antiochus  were  probably  worse 
governed  than  even  the  Syrians  of  the  present  day 
under  the  Turks  ;  for  whilst  the  Koran  is  the  standard, 
religious  and  civil,  both  of  the  Turk  and  of  the 
Moslem  Syrian,  the  Law  of  Moses  was  not  recognised 
as  a  legal  system  by  the  myrmidons  of  the  Seleucidae. 
In  one  respect,  however,  the  Governors  sent  by 
Antiochus  no  doubt  resembled  the  Pachas  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  main  idea  of  both  being  the 
extortion  of  money  on  any  convenient  pretext, 
partly  by  way  of  tax  or  tribute,  partly  on  the 
Governor's  own  private  account. 


Jewish  Government.  25 

The  native  method  of  government  seems  also 
closely  to  have  resembled  that  now  existing  in 
Palestine,  being  the  development  of  a  system  of 
councils  formed  of  the  elders  and  more  distinguished 
local  chiefs. 

The  principal  Council  sat  in  Jerusalem,  and  con- 
sisted of  seventy-one  members.  It  was  called  the 
Beth  Din,  or  "house  of  debate,"  and  the  president 
was  entitled  Nasi,  while  the  vice-president  was  called 
father  of  the  Beth  Din.  This  Sanhedrim  held  its 
meetings  in  the  stone  chamber  at  one  corner  of  the 
main  Temple  Court.  Men  of  every  class,  high  or 
low,  rich  or  poor,  priest  or  lay,  were  eligible,  if 
qualified  by  a  reputation  for  sagacity  and  for  know- 
ledge of  the  Law.  Criminal  and  civil  cases  were 
tried  (when  permission  was  accorded  by  the  Greek 
Governor)  before  the  Beth  Din,  and  the  613  precepts 
which  summed  up  the  whole  duty  of  the  devout 
Jew — 365  prohibitory  and  248  obligatory — were 
enforced  by  this  national  tribunal. 

Smaller  councils,  modelled  on  the  same  plan,  but 
consisting  of  twenty-four  members  only,  sat  in  the 
country  towns.  These  seem  to  have  resembled  the 
modern  Mejdlis,  or  town  councils,  which  exist  in 
the  principal  places  in  Palestine  at  the  present  day, 
and  which  assist  by  their  deliberations  the  Turkish 
Governor  and  the  religious  judge,  or  Kadi. 

The  education  of  the  young  was,  Josephus  tells  us, 


26  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

the  first  care  of  the  Jews,  and  the  same  sentiment  is 
echoed  throughout  Jewish  Hterature.  But  by  educa- 
tion was  understood  simply  the  teaching  of  the  Law 
of  Moses,  for  little  else  was  known  by  the  teachers. 

Thus,  as  at  the  present  day  the  Moslem  child  is 
taught  to  read  only  the  Koran,  while  a  knowledge  of 
the  elements  of  arithmetic  is  considered  as  equivalent 
to  a  very  advanced  education  in  Europe  ;  so  in  the 
year  170  B.C.  a  Jewish  child  in  Palestine  learned  to 
read  the  Holy  Books  at  eight  years  old,  and  in  the 
later  Jewish  period  to  study  the  Mishna  at  ten.  This 
education  was  confined,  however,  evidently  to  the 
upper  class,  and  could  only  be  obtained  in  places 
where  schools  and  teachers  existed.  The  children  of 
the  Hidittt,  in  the  far-off  villages,  must  have  grown 
up  in  ignorance,  being  probably  employed  in  tending 
flocks  and  herds,  as  peasant  boys  still  are  in  Palestine, 
and,  like  the  Fellah  boys,  they  cannot  have  known 
how  to  write  or  read. 

The  schooling  was  directly  connected  with  the 
religious  service  of  the  people.  Synagogues  date 
back  apparently  to  the  time  of  Ezra,  and  were  useful 
for  the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge.  Of  the 
number  of  synagogues  we  cannot  gain  any  idea,  but 
they  existed  even  in  Jerusalem,  close  by  the  Temple. 
The  service,  of  the  synagogue  was  founded  on  that  of 
the  Temple,  and  our  English  liturgy  owes  much  to  it. 

The  Shema,  or  exhortation,  was  followed  by  prayers 


The  Synagogue.  27 


and  psalms  ;  two  lessons  were  read  daily — the  first 
from  the  Law,  the  second  from  the  Prophets — and  a 
Deresh^  or  exposition,  followed.  The  Hebrew  was 
explained  by  the  reader,  and  the  explanation  was 
gradually  formulated,  and  at  length  written  down  and 
became  a  Targum.  The  synagogue  had  an  appointed 
minister  and  elders,  also  ten  or  more  Batlanim,  or  rich 
"  men  of  leisure,"  whose  duty  it  was  to  form  a  quorum 
of  the  congregation  at  every  service.  Each  synagogue 
had  also  its  Chazzan,  or  clerk,  who  was  generally  the 
village  schoolmaster  as  well.  There  were  three 
services  daily,  and  solemn  days  on  the  2nd,  5th,  and 
7th  days  of  the  week.  The  synagogue  was  built  so 
that  the  congregation  should  stand  facing  Jerusalem, 
the  pulpit  of  the  minister  being  in  the  middle.  The 
elders  held  the  power  of  excommunication,  or  "putting 
out  of  the  synagogue" — a  power  still  exercised  by  the 
Jerusalem  Rabbis. 

Science  formed  no  part  of  the  orthodox  education. 
The  study  of  Greek,  or  of  any  foreign  tongue,  was 
discouraged  by  these  teachers,  who  dreaded  the  per- 
nicious influence  of  heathen  philosophy.  "  It  is 
written,"  one  Rabbi  said  of  the  Law,  "'thou  shalt 
meditate  therein  day  and  night.'  Find  me  an  hour 
which  is  neither  day  nor  night,  and  in  that  you  may 
study  Greek." 

A  people  who  had  no  calendar,  but  watched  the 
new    moon    rise,   and    signalled    its    appearance   at 


28  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

Jerusalem  by  lines  of  beacon  fires,  who  occasionally 
made  errors  even  in  this  observation,  and  were  at  the 
mercy  of  Samaritan  mock-beacons,  cannot  be  said  to 
have  advanced  far  in  astronomy.  The  mysteries  of 
astrology  were  perhaps  not  unknown  to  the  Jewish 
sect  of  the  Mehistanites ;  but  in  Ecclesiasticus,  a 
book  not  much  earlier  than  the  period  now  under 
consideration,  we  find  the  suggestive  exclamation, 
"  Who  can  measure  the  breadth  of  the  earth  ?" — i.  3. 

Nor  was  the  attention  of  the  educated  turned  to 
art.  The  work  of  the  painter  or  sculptor  is,  and 
always  has  been,  regarded  by  Semitic  nations  with 
horror,  as  an  attempt  on  man's  part  to  imitate  the 
Almighty  in  creation ;  and  the  Jewish  hatred  of 
graven  images  was,  no  doubt,  partly  due  to  the 
licentiousness  of  the  idolatrous  worship  among  sur- 
rounding nations.  "Neither  did  the  mischievous 
invention  of  men  deceive  us,  nor  an  image  spotted 
with  divers  colours,  the  painter's  fruitless  labour ;  the 
sight  whereof  enticeth  fools  to  lust  after  it,  and  so  they 
desire  the  form  of  a  dead  image  that  hath  no  breath." 
— Wisdom  XV.  4,  5.  Such  are  the  characteristic  words 
of  a  writer  of  the  period,  and  such  was  the  stern  and 
puritanic  spirit  in  which  the  Jew  spoke  of  the  aesthetic 
worship  of  the  Greek. 

Music  even  had  made  no  progress,  and  the  instru- 
ments used  in  the  Temple  service  were  few  and  rude. 
The   modern    Syrian    music    is    most   distasteful    to 


yewish  Poetry,  29 


Europeans,  and  its  only  excellence  consists  in  the 
wonderfully  good  time  kept  by  the  performers.  The 
viol  with  two  strings  and  a  bow,  the  lyre  struck  with 
a  plectrum,  the  silver  trumpet,  the  double  pipe,  the 
shofah,  or  ram's-horn,  and  the  cymbal,  were  used  in  the 
Temple,  but  they  were  only  employed  as  occasional 
accompaniments  to  the  voices.  The  cow-horn,  Pan's- 
pipe,  Eolian  harp,  and  "  tabor,"  or  small  hand-drum, 
were  also  known,  and  from  this  category  we  can 
judge  how  poor  the  music  must  have  been. 

Poetry  alone  was  unhampered  by  national  preju- 
dice ;  and  the  tone  of  religious  thought,  delighting  in 
bold  anthropomorphic  descriptions  of  the  actions  of 
the  Deity,  the  language  of  an  age  of  primitive 
civilisation,  gave  free  scope  for  poetic  works,  rivalling 
even  the  sacred  Psalms  of  David.  Few  passages  in 
the  Old  Testament  are  superior  to  the  magnificent 
description  in  the  Wisdom  of  Sirach  of  the  works  of 
God — "  Look  upon  the  rainbow,  and  praise  Him  that 
made  it ;  very  beautiful  it  is  in  the  brightness  thereof. 
It  compasseth  the  heaven  about  in  a  glorious  circle^ 
and  the  hands  of  the  Most  High  have  bended  it." — 
Ecclus.  xliii.  11,  12. 

Such  then  was  the  condition  of  the  upper  class.  A 
people  with  its  eyes  turned  back  to  the  past,  intent 
only  on  the  observance  of  the  Law  of  Moses,  waiting 
calmly  for  the  expected  Prophet,  reading  their  sacred 
books,  as  the  Roman  Church  still  does,  in  a  tongue 


30  Judas  MaccabcEiis. 

unknown  to  the  multitude,  but,  unlike  the  Church  of 
Rome,  accompanying  the  reading  with  some  attempt 
at  translation,  however  unfaithful  the  rendering  may 
have  been  to  the  original  spirit  of  the  Scripture. 

It  is  impossible  to  lay  too  much  stress  on  the  fact 
that  religious  observances  formed  the  essence  of  the 
Jewish  life,  at  least  as  far  as  the  upper  class  was 
concerned.  Every  earthly  consideration  was  made 
subservient  to  that  of  following  the  commandments 
of  the  Law,  and  not  only  inconvenience,  but  even 
danger  and  death  were  cheerfully  suffered  rather  than 
infringe  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  or  of  the 
Sabbatic  year. 

Twice  every  year  every  male  Jew  was  commanded 
to  visit  Jerusalem,  and  the  organisation  by  which  this 
duty  was  carried  out  formed  a  fundamental  part  of 
the  individual  and  national  life. 

The  priests  were  divided  into  twenty-four  orders, 
the  names  of  which  are  given  in  the  Bible,  and  the 
division  was  as  old  as  the  time  of  David. — i  Chron. 
xxiv.  These  orders  relieved  one  another  every  week 
in  the  Temple  service,  the  new  order  reaching  the  city 
on  Friday,  and  the  old  leaving  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week.  Thus  a  double  company  was  always  present 
in  the  Temple  on  the  Sabbath,  and  every  order 
visited  the  -Holy  City  twice  in  twelve  lunar  months. 

Not  only  was  this  division  into  Mis/utaiotk,  or 
orders,  organised  for  the  sons  of  Aaron,  but  the  whole 


'' Standing  Men.''  31 

nation  was  divided  in  a  corresponding  manner,  and  a 
certain  proportion  of  the  laity  visited  the  Temple 
with  each  company  of  priests.  Thus,  whatever  the 
occupation  of  the  layman,  and  wherever  his  home 
might  be,  he  was  bound  twice  a-year  to  go  up  with 
the  priests  of  his  district  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  remain 
there  a  week.  No  organisation  could  be  better  fitted 
to  preserve  the  purity  of  the  national  faith,  and 
nothing  can  better  show  how  vital  an  element  religion 
must  have  formed  of  the  national  life  than  the  fact 
that  it  was  found  possible  to  enforce  so  strict  a  rule 
upon  the  laity  as  well  as  upon  the  priesthood.  The 
position  of  the  "  standing  men,"  or  representatives  of 
the  congregation — who,  as  being  specially  purified, 
were  admitted  to  an  inner  part  of  the  Temple — was 
held  in  the  highest  esteem.  These  representatives 
stood  in  the  raised  cloister  which  ran  north  and  south 
in  front  of  the  Altar  Court,  ten  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  great  square  enclosure  where  the  main  part  of  the 
congregation  gathered,  with  the  women  in  galleries 
round  the  open  court.  Fifteen  steps  led  from  the 
Court  of  the  Women  to  the  great  gate  Nicanor,  and 
to  the  cloister  of  the  "  standing  men."  On  the  fifteen 
steps  the  Levites  chanted  the  Songs  of  Degrees  (Ps. 
cxx.-cxxxiv.),  and  the  priests  stood  up  on  the  dwarf 
wall  which  rose  between  the  people  and  the  altar,  close 
above  the  cloister  of  the  "standing  men,"  and  thence 
blessed   the    congregation.      An   impassable   barrier 


32  yudas  MaccabcBus. 

fenced  off  the  worshippers  from  the  priests  in  the 
Altar  Court,  and  to  this  barrier  the  selected  and 
honoured  representatives  called  "standing  men"  were 
allowed  to  approach  the  nearest. 

The  great  religious  festivals  of  the  year  also  became 
occasions  of  social  intercourse  between  the  inhabitants 
of  remote  districts,  and  thus  united  the  nation. 

The  Jews  had,  properly  speaking,  no  calendar.  The 
feasts  of  trumpets,  which  celebrated  each  new  moon, 
were  regulated  by  actual  observation  of  the  Crescent. 
Throughout  Palestine,  the  appearance  of  the  slender 
sickle,  which  shines  so  brightly  in  the  clear  Oriental 
heaven,  was  watched  with  eager  eyes,  and  those  who 
first  saw  it  hastened  to  report  it  to  the  Beth  Din  in 
Jerusalem.  Even  the  law  of  the  Sabbath-day's 
journey  was  abrogated  to  allow  these  messengers  to 
proceed  at  once  to  the  capital ;  and  it  is  said  that,  on 
one  occasion,  forty  pairs  of  witnesses  passed  through 
Lydda  alone  on  the  Sabbath,  intent  on  the  errand 
which  seemed  so  important  to  this  primitive  people. 

The  witnesses  were  obliged  to  be  men  of  good 
character,  and  were  very  closely  questioned  by  the 
Sanhedrim.  If  they  had  only  seen  a  reflexion  in 
water,  or  a  doubtful  portion  of  the  luminary  through 
clouds,  or  if  they  had  seen  the  new  moon  through 
glass,  their,  evidence  was  disallowed,  and  their  journey 
was  fruitless.  Here,  probably,  we  trace  the  origin  of 
the  superstition  that  it  is  unlucky  to  see  the  new  moon 


Feasts  and  Fasts.  33 

first  through  glass.  Certainly  it  was  unlucky  for 
the  witness  who  had  made  a  laborious  journey  in 
vain. 

The  evidence  was  taken  until  the  time  of  evening 
prayer  on  the  last  day  of  the  old  month.  When  it 
had  been  clearly  proved  that  the  new  moon  was 
visible,  a  beacon  was  lighted  on  Olivet,  and  when 
this  was  seen,  other  beacon-fires  spread  through 
Palestine  until  the  land  was  in  a  blaze  from  north  to 
south.  If,  however,  by  reason  of  storms  or  other 
natural  causes,  the  moon  was  not  seen,  the  month 
was  only  lengthened  by  one  day,  and  the  new  month 
began  on  the  second. 

The  Jewish  year  commenced  at  the  vernal  equinox, 
and  the  Passover  occurred  early  in  April.  In  the 
end  of  May  the  Feast  of  Weeks  (Pentecost)  was 
celebrated,  and  in  the  beginning  of  October  the  booths 
of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  were  built.  To  these 
three  ancient  festivals  a  fourth  was  added  in  later 
times,  and  the  Feast  of  Purim,  at  which  wine  was 
drunk  in  inordinate  quantities,  was  celebrated  in  the 
beginning  of  March,  and  commemorated  the  national 
deliverance  by  Esther.  At  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles, 
and  at  that  of  Purim,  palms  were  borne  by  the 
worshippers,  and  afterwards  laid  up  on  the  roof  of  the 
Temple  cloisters.  On  the  first  of  these  anniversaries 
the  Temple  was  illuminated. 

Six  fasts  were  also  yearly  observed,  including  the 
c 


34  Judas  MaccabcBUS.  . 

great  Day  of  Atonement.  The  first  occurred  in  the 
beginning  of  July,  in  memory  of  five  national 
calamities;  the  second  fast,  in  the  end  of  the  same 
month,  was  on  account  of  the  destruction  of  Solomon's 
Temple ;  the  third  was  the  great  Day  of  Atonement, 
in  the  end  of  October ;  the  fourth,  lasting  three  days, 
commemorated  the  taking  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, in  December ;  the  last  v/as  the  Fast  of  Esther, 
preceding  Purim.  Later  festivals,  instituted  in  the 
times  of  which  we  are  now  treating,  will  be  noticed 
in  due  course. 

We  find  in  the  Talmud  the  most  minute  details  of 
the  observances  during  these  festivals ;  but,  among  all 
the  religious  ceremonies,  those  of  the  solemn  Day  of 
Atonement  are  most  fully  explained,  a  whole  treatise 
being  devoted  to  the  details  of  the  service  as  observed 
in  the  later  times. 

On  that  day  the  goat  consecrated  to  Azazel  was 
led  forth  to  the  wilderness,  bearing  the  sins  of  the 
people  on  its  head.  A  remarkable  modification  in 
the  Law,  or  rather  perhaps  a  strained  reading  of  its 
directions,  was  introduced  latterly  into  the  service. 
The  unhappy  goat  was  indeed  loosed  when  it  reached 
the  dreary  desert  cliffs  above  Jericho ;  but  the 
messenger  who  led  it  pushed  the  animal  over  the  edge 
of  a  steep  slope,  and  it  rolled  down  about  looo  feet, 
and  was  killed  by  the  fall.  The  scene  of  this  unique 
custom  is  to  be  found  on  the  great  hill,  with  steeply 


Trades  and  Industries,  35 

sloping  sides,  where  the  old  name  of  Tzook,  applied 
in  the  Talmud  to  the  mountain  in  question,  still 
lingers,  at  the  exact  distance  from  Jerusalem  men- 
tioned in  the  tract  Yomah. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Jews  were  er^gaged 
in  commerce  at  this  period.  Josephus  states  that, 
even  in  his  own  day,  they  were  not  addicted  to  trade  ; 
and  in  the  Books  of  Maccabees  husbandry  is  men- 
tioned, but  trade  is  not.  The  Holy  Land  had  no 
harbours,  and  its  primitive  cultivation  did  not  leave 
much  produce  to  export.  What  was  required  of 
woven  or  spun  materials  the  Jews  made  for  themselves, 
and  there  were  potters,  dyers,  and  tanners  in  the 
country  just  as  there  are  now.  Of  metallurgy 
probably  something  was  known,  for  smiths'  work  was 
necessary  for  the  forging  of  ploughshares  and  mat- 
tocks. Foreign  merchants  seem  also  to  have  visited 
the  country;  but  con^merce  and  manufacture  are 
probably  at  the  present  day  much  what  they  were  in 
the  Hasmonean  times,  and  the  Jewish  dislike  to  mix 
with  the  heathen  must  have  been  fatal  to  any  exten- 
sive interchange  of  produce. 

Turning  next  to  the  lower  class  of  the  Hidiut,  or 
"ignorant,"  we  find  them  leading  an  agricultural  and 
pastoral  life. 

Their  language,  as  before  said,  was  the  Aramaic  or 
Chaldee  dialect,  and  Hebrew  was  not  understood.  It 
follows  that,  in  the  more  remote  villages,  where  there 


l6  Jtidas  MaccabcBus, 

were  no  schools  or  synagogues,  and  where  the  popu- 
lation consisted  of  peasants  unable  to  write  or  read, 
there  can  have  been  but  little  knowledge  of  the  Law 
of  Moses.  At  a  later  period  we  find  mention  of  the 
common  people,  who  were  "  ignorant  of  the  Law,"  and 
in  the  Talmud  various  writers  look  forward  to  a 
millennium,  when  every  soul  in  Palestine  should  be 
acquainted  with  its  precepts ;  from  which  we  may 
perhaps  fairly  infer  that  such  universal  knowledge 
had  never  existed,  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of 
Jewish  independence. 

There  are  indications  in  Jewish  literature  which 
tend  to  show  that  the  old  worship  of  the  "high 
places,"  which  the  children  of  Israel  were  commanded 
to  destroy,  was  never  entirely  stamped  out.  Some 
of  these  idolatrous  shrines  existed,  and  were  held 
sacred,  even  in  the  4th  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  In  the  Mishna,  this  worship  is  considered  a 
subject  of  sufficient  importance  to  demand  a  tract  to 
itself,  and  instances  of  trees  in  Palestine,  locally  held 
sacred,  but  officially  condemned  by  the  Rabbis,  are 
given  in  the  treatise  on  "  Foreign  Worship." 

Nor  is  this  worship  of  local  divinities  extinct  even 
at  the  present  day.  The  modern  Mukam  replaces 
the  ancient  Makom,  or  "  place,"  consecrated  to  some 
traditional  prophet  or  chief  to  whom  supernatural 
powers  are  ascribed.  Sacred  trees  still  exist  all  over 
the  country,  and  sacrifices  and  processions   entirely 


Rustic  Life,  37 


disconnected  with  the  ritual  of  the  Moslem  religion 
are  locally  observed. 

Distinguished  alike  by  religion  and  language,  the 
rustic  population  led  a  life  of  toil  and  misery, 
oppressed  by  the  foreign  rulers,  neglected  and 
despised  by  the  upper  class  of  their  nation.  They 
were  born,  they  married,  and  they  died — such  was 
their  story,  generation  after  generation.  Their  reli- 
gion, as  far  as  they  could  understand  it,  was  adverse 
to  progress,  and  commanded  them  absolutely  to 
abhor  innovation.  The  children  were  sent  to  feed 
the  flocks  and  herds  as  soon  as  they  were  of  sufficient 
age,  and  thus  they  had  no  opportunity  for  acquiring 
even  the  rudiments  of  education.  Thus  in  the 
peasant  of  Hasmonean  times  we  find  no  advance  on 
the  same  class  in  the  days  of  Samuel,  while  the 
modern  Fellah  probably  presents  a  living  picture  of 
the  aboriginal  "hewers  of  wood"  and  "drawers  of 
water"  even  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Joshua. 

Of  the  family  and  social  life  of  the  second  century 
before  Christ  we  can  only  gain  an  idea  from  the 
scattered  notices  in  the  literature  of  the  period. 

A  Jew,  like  a  Moslem,  was  allowed  four  wives. 
This  custom  was  based,  like  every  other  Jewish 
custom,  on  a  venerable  precedent.  Jacob  had  four 
wives  ;  therefore,  it  followed  that  the  number  must 
have  been  divinely  permitted.  In  the  same  way,  the 
Samaritans  now  allow  two  wives  if  one  be  childless, 


38  Judas  Maccabcetis. 

acting  on  the  same  precedent,  but  ignoring  the  claims 
of  the  two  inferior  wives  of  the  Patriarch.  But 
though  a  rich  townsman  may  occasionally  have 
had  the  full  number,  the  poor  peasant,  as  a  rule, 
cannot  often  have  afforded  to  support  more  than  one, 
or  at  the  most  two.  So,  at  the  present  day,  the 
number  is  regulated  not  so  much  by  law  as  by  the 
poverty  of  the  Fellahin. 

The  position  of  the  wife  cannot  easily  be  estimated. 
The  modern  Jewish  women  are  held  in  very  low 
estimation,  and  live  in  constant  terror  of  divorce.  In 
the  Talmud,  the  most  cynical  and  contemptuous 
estimate  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  nature  of 
women  is  observable,  and  \vas  no  doubt,  to  a  certain 
extent,  justified  by  the  actual  condition  of  Jewish 
female  education. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Bible  and  the  early  writings 
of  post-Biblical  date  are  full  of  the  praise  of  good 
women  as  contrasted  with  bad  ones.  Famous  women 
appear  throughout  the  whole  range  of  Jewish  history, 
from  Miriam  to  Judith.  The  authority  of  the  mother 
over  her  children  is  again  and  again  enforced  in  the 
writings  of  Solomon,  and  in  the  later  imitations  of 
his  works.  "A  silent  and  loving  woman,"  says  the 
son  of  Sirach,  "  is  a  gift  from  the  Lord,  and  her  con- 
tinent mind  cannot  be  valued." 

Marriage,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Jew,  was  a  religious 
duty  inculcated   in  the  very  commencement  of  the 


Marriage,  Birth,  aitd  Death.  39 

Torah,  and  in  later  times  the  bride  had  the  additional 
reason  for  desiring  children  that  any  one  of  her  sons 
might  prove  to  be  the  Messiah.  The  men  were 
married  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  the  girls  at 
twelve,  which  is  still  the  age  at  which  Jewish  girls 
are  wedded.  There  were  three  kinds  of  nuptials 
recognised  by  the  law,  and  a  regular  betrothal  pre- 
ceded marriage.  The  girl's  consent  was  asked  after 
the  arrangements  for  the  alliance  had  been  made 
between  the  bridegroom  and  the  bride's  father,  and 
this  also  on  Patriarchal  precedent,  for  Rebecca  was 
asked  by  Bethuel,  "Wilt  thou  go  with  this  man.?" 
The  bride  was  accompanied  by  her  companions  in 
procession,  with  songs  and  dances,  and  a  dowry 
was  paid  by  the  husband — customs  still  universally 
observed  in  the  East. 

The  ceremonies  of  the  naming  and  circumcision  of 
children  were  also  probably  much  the  same  as  those 
observed  from  the  earliest  period.  Of  these  we  have 
no  special  notice  in  the  Hasmonean  times  ;  but  Jewish 
custom  is  known  to  have  forbidden  feasting  on  the 
occasion  of  the  birth  of  a  child. 

No  special  ceremonial  appears  to  have  existed  with 
regard  to  burials.  The  nearest  relatives  accompanied 
the  corpse,  and  the  women  uttered  the  shrill  cries 
still  heard  at  funerals.  It  seems  probable  that 
professional  mourners  were  employed  (Jeremiah  ix. 
17),  and  all  who   met   a    funeral  were  expected   to 


40  Judas  MaccabcBUs. 

join  in  the  procession.  Purification  was  necessary 
after  the  ceremony,  and  the  visiting  of  the  grave 
was  probably  never  a  Jewish  custom,  being  contrary 
to  the  whole  spirit  of  their  views  as  to  contamination 
by  a  dead  body.  Costly  monuments  were  never 
erected  ;  the  rolling  door  of  the  rude  rock-cut  tomb 
closed  on  the  dead,  who  entered  the  "  House  of 
Eternity,"  and  no  certain  hope  of  immortality 
consoled  the  mourners.  "  The  covenant  of  the 
grave,"  says  the  son  of  Sirach,  "  is  not  showed  thee." 
■ — Ecclus.  xiv.  12. 

The  appearance  of  the  country  in  the  old  days  was 
probably,  on  the  whole,  very  like  that  which  it  still 
presents.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  part  of 
Palestine  was  ever,  within  the  historic  period,  covered 
with  those  forests  which  many  writers  suppose  to 
have  formerly  existed,  or  that  the  rainfall  or  supply 
of  water  in  running  streams  has  decreased.  The 
springs  and  rivers  noticed  in  Scripture  still  flow  with 
water,  and  the  deserts  of  Scripture  are  still  deserts. 
The  wild  growth  of  copse  and  oak-wood  now  existing 
answers  to  the  Hebrew  nomenclature  of  the  old 
natural  vegetation,  and  the  long  rolling  limestone 
ridges,  the  sharp  precipices,  the  open  plains  and 
downs,  present  to  our  eyes  the  same  features  as  of  old. 

Only  in  one  respect  is  there  a  marked  change — in 
the  decay  of  cultivation  throughout  the  land.  This  is 
an  indisputable  fact.     In  the  middle  of  thick  copses, 


Scenery  of  Palestme,  41 

the  traveller  still  comes  across  the  old  rude-stone 
towers  of  the  ancient  orchards.  On  the  bare  hill- 
sides he.  finds  magnificent  wine-presses  cut  in  the 
rock,  and  in  the  districts  where  the  white  chalk 
prevails,  the  hills  are  contoured  with  endless  terraces 
excavated  on  their  slopes,  and  now  only  growing 
thorns  and  thistles.  The  present  population  of  the 
whole  of  Syria  is  less  than  that  of  London,  and  the 
land  is  desolate  because  of  the  steady  decrease  of  the 
native  inhabitants. 

The  appearance  of  the  country,  when  thoroughly 
cultivated,  must  have  been  one  of  unusual  fertility 
and  prosperity,  though  not  of  romantic  beauty.  The 
rugged  hills  of  Hebron  were  indeed  clothed  with  the 
thick  copsewood  of  Hareth  ;  Carmel  was  then,  as  now, 
covered  with  bushes ;  and  the  lower  hills  of  Galilee, 
with  the  plain  of  Sharon,  were  beautified  by  thick 
oak-woods,  surrounding  the  bright  shallow  streams 
which  still  run  over  the  rocky  beds  of  the  valleys. 
On  the  other  hand,  bare  and  waterless  deserts  stretched 
along  the  east  of  the  watershed  ;  the  ghastly  Jeshimon, 
or  "  solitude,"  reached  to  the  crags  which  bound  the 
Dead  Sea  on  the  west ;  the  Wilderness  of  Beth-Aven 
was  stony  and  barren  then  as  now ;  and  the  open 
plains  of  Beersheba  grew  only  grass  and  flowers, 
serving  in  spring  as  rich  pasturage  for  the  nomadic 
tribes.  The  Jordan  valley  was  also  uncultivated,  and 
the  swamps  of  the  river  afforded  cover  to  outlaws 


42  Judas  Maccabceus. 

and  fugitives ;  for  the  palm  cultivation,  which  was 
first  commenced  by  Herod  the  Great,  had  not  yet 
been  attempted,  and  the  great  capabilities  of  the 
Jericho  soil  were  unknown. 

In  such  districts  the  country  had  very  much  the 
same  appearance  in  the  second  century  before  Christ 
that  it  now  presents  ;  but  in  those  parts  where  culti- 
vation was  possible,  the  aspect  of  the  scenery  was 
probably  more  pleasing.  Throughout  the  district  of 
the  Shephelah,  or  low  hills,  the  yellow  corn  crowned 
the  flat  summits,  and  covered  the  red  soil  of  the 
valleys.  On  the  higher  hills,  the  long  apple-green 
vineyards  spread  terrace  above  terrace,  as  they  still 
do  in  the  fastnesses  of  Hermon.  The  dark  soft 
foliage  of  the  great  olive  groves  in  the  broader  valleys 
contrasted  with  the  sparse,  straggling  leaves  of  the 
fig-trees  which  flourished  on  the  higher  ground. 
Water  for  irrigation  was  stored  in  cisterns  long  since 
broken,  and  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  suppose 
that  the  natural  supply  was  then  more  plentiful  than 
it  now  is. 

How  far  this  condition  of  prosperity  had  been 
developed  in  the  Hasmonean  times,  it  is  not  easy  to 
determine  ;  probably  the  cultivation  differed  almost 
from  year  to  year,  according  to  the  tranquillity  of  the 
land,  just  as  it  does  at  the  present  day  ;  and  no  doubt, 
during  the  period  of  the  revolt,  agriculture  must  have 
suffered    where   the   contest   was   being    carried    on. 


Jewish  ArchitedMre.  43 

The  picture,  as  a  whole,  may,  however,  be  taken  to 
represent  Jewish  Palestine  almost  from  the  time  of 
Samuel  to  that  of  Herod. 

There  is  a  second  question  which  deserves  notice, 
as  rendering  more  vivid  our  appreciation  of  the 
appearance  of  ancient  Palestine,  namely,  that  of  the 
original  Jewish  architecture.  The  enthusiasts  who 
have  expected  to  unearth  by  deep  excavations  former 
monuments  of  Jewish  splendour,  have  always  been, 
and  will  always  be,  doomed  to  disappointment. 
There  is  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Jews 
were  ever  a  race  of  great  builders.  From  their 
literature  we  obtain  quite  a  different  impression,  and 
the  known  antiquities  of  the  land  serve  to  strengthen 
the  impression. 

In  the  Bible  we  find  no  buildings  thought  worthy  of 
special  notice,  except  the  successive  Temples  in  Jeru- 
salem. These  latter  were  remarkable  more  for  their 
huge  proportions  than  for  their  architectural  beauty. 
The  Holy  House  itself  was  at  best  a  very  heavy-looking 
building ;  the  great  altar  was  merely  a  structure  of 
unshaped  stones  imbedded  in  mortar,  and  white- 
washed. And,  in  addition  to  this,  even  the  original 
Temple  was  not  the  work  of  Jews,  but  of  foreign 
masons  hired  by  Solomon. 

That  the  Jews  were  skilful  in  rock  excavation  there 
is  much  to  indicate.  The  cisterns  hewn  in  the  rock, 
the  artificially-scarped   walls   of  rock   on  which   the 


44  Judas  MaccabcBtis, 

older  towns  stood,  the  rock-cut  tombs  and  passages, 
steps  and  platforms,  which  are  found  at  the  ancient 
sites,  are  plainly  attributable  to  Jewish  times.  But 
beyond  these  rude  and  primitive  works,  which  are 
remarkable  for  the  roughness  of  their  finish  and  the 
irregularity  of  their  angles,  we  find  little  that  can  be 
confidently  ascribed  to  the  early  periods  before  the 
Christian  era. 

The  Canaanite  towns,  which  Joshua  In  a  single  day 
reduced  to  a  heap  of  ruins,  cannot  have  been  exten- 
sive or  very  firmly  built.  The  city  which  Joab  would 
have  drawn  with  cords  into  the  river,  the  house  sup- 
ported on  two  pillars  which  Samson  pulled  down, 
the  cottage  roof  torn  up  to  give  room  for  the  paralytic 
man's  bed  to  be  lowered — these  various  episodes 
suggest  that  the  architecture  of  ancient  Palestine  was 
not  far  different  from  that  of  the  modern  Syrians. 
In  the  Bible,  we  find  the  towns  divided  into  fenced 
cities  and  open  villages ;  the  former  had  walls  of 
stone,  the  latter  had  none.  So,  in  Galilee,  fenced 
cities  surrounded  by  walls  are  still  found,  which  were 
fortified  by  the  great  native  families,  while  in  positions 
of  less  strategical  value  the  villages  are  open  and 
undefended.  Tacitus  also  remarks  that  "a  great 
part  of  Judea  is  com^posed  of  scattered  villages." 

We  are  then  apparently  justified  in  concluding  that 
the  architecture  of  the  Hasmonean  age  was  not  in 
advance  of  the  modern  native  architecture.    Explorers 


Agriculture.  45 


have  failed  to  find  any  remains  which  show  the  Jews 
to  have  been  at  any  time  a  nation  of  builders,  and  the 
land  is  now  so  well  known,  that  it  seems  highly 
improbable  that  any  remains  of  indisputable  antiquity 
will  be  found  beyond  the  primitive  rock  excavations, 
cisterns,  scarps,  caves,  and  tombs. 

From  the  Jewish  writings  we  may  also  gather  a 
fairly  vivid  picture  of  the  usual  occupations  of  the 
peasantry  in  Jewish  times. 

In  an  ordinary  year,  rain  was  to  be  expected  at  the 
autumnal  equinox,  and  it  continued  until  the  vernal 
equinox,  the  great  storms  of  these  two  seasons  being 
known  as  the  "former"  and  "latter"  rain.  The 
ground  was  ploughed  just  before  the  rainy  season, 
and  the  sowing  began  in  October.  The  barley  was 
green  and  high  in  April,  and  the  wheat  was  ripe  in 
May,  in  the  plains.  The  fruit  season  began  about 
September.  Millet,  cummin,  lentiles,  vetches,  melons, 
and  cucumbers  were  also  cultivated  where  water  and 
good  soil  existed.  Such  was  the  natural  produce  in 
the  Hasmonean  times,  and  such  it  still  is  in  the 
present  day. 

The  land  was  cleared  of  stones  and  thorns,  was 
ploughed,  though  not  deeply,  and  cross-ploughed, 
and  was  also  allowed  to  lie  fallow ;  but  the  rotation 
of  crops  was  either  unknown  or  considered  contrary 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Law,  which  forbade  mixing  various 
seeds. 


46  Jitdas  MaccabcBUs. 

In  May  and  June  the  harvest  began.  The  corn 
was  cut  and  stacked  in  round  cocks,  much  Hke  hay- 
in  England.  The  carts  conveyed  it  to  the  village 
threshing-floors;  and  the  "corner  of  the  field"  and 
gleanings  were  left  for  the  poor.  The  barley  was 
ready  a  fortnight  before  the  wheat,  and  there  was  a 
considerable  difference  in  the  harvest-time  in  the 
mountains  and  in  the  plains. 

Brought  to  the  Goran,  or  threshing-floor  (now 
called  Jitrn)^  the  corn  was  trampled  by  oxen,  and  the 
rude  sledge,  called  Moreg  (now  Mi\rej\  was  dragged 
over  it  by  horses  or  other  beasts.  The  grain  was 
heaped  up  in  the  centre  of  the  open  rock  platform 
which  formed  the  threshing-floor;  it  was  winnowed 
by  tossing  with  shovels  and  forks,  such  as  are  still  in 
use,  and  it  was  finally  shaken  in  a  sieve. 

Two  other  principal  crops  were  cultivated  then  as 
now — the  olive,  which  spread  in  long  shady  groves 
over  the  western  slopes  ;  the  vine,  whose  grapes  were 
most  luscious  when  filled  by  the  autumn  mists  in  the 
mountains,  where  the  frost  invigorated  the  plants  in 
winter. 

Such  were  the  agricultural  pursuits  of  the  peasantry, 
and  in  addition  to  these  they  had  the  care  of 
their  flocks  and  herds.  From  the  earliest  period 
we  find  both  pastoral  and  agricultural  districts  in 
Palestine,  and  find  them  just  where  they  still  remain. 
The  mountains  of  Judea  and  Samaria,  and  the  higher 


Nomadic  Life,  47 


ranges  of  Upper  Galilee,  with  the  low  hills  to  the 
west,  are  now  the  agricultural  parts  of  the  country. 
The  plain  of  Sharon,  the  desert  of  Beersheba,  and 
the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills  above  the  Judean  desert, 
together  with  the  Jordan  valley,  are  the  pastoral 
districts.  They  are  inhabited  by  nomadic  tribes, 
descendants  of  the  ancient  Arabs  and  Midianites  of 
the  earlier  period  ;  but  the  peasantry  on  the  border- 
land are  also  owners  of  large  flocks  and  herds,  which 
find  pasturage  at  the  edge  of  the  pastoral  districts ; 
and  throughout  Palestine  every  village  owns  some 
cows  and  goats,  and  finds  places  where  they  can 
be  fed. 

This  sort  of  mixture  of  agriculture  and  pastoral  life 
can  be  traced  even  as  early  as  the  times  of  the 
Patriarchs  :  being  themselves  nomads  and  owners  of 
cattle,  they  fixed  their  abode  in  the  plains  of  Beer- 
sheba and  Gerar,  where  the  open,  untilled  land 
afforded  rich  food  for  their  beasts.  But  the  children 
of  Heth  and  the  sons  of  Hamor  were  owners  of  fields 
and  orchards  in  Hebron  and  Shechem,  which  were 
secured  by  legal  rights.  The  peasant  boys  of  David's 
time  sheltered  their  flocks  in  the  great  caves,  which 
are  still  used  as  sheepfolds,  along  the  skirts  of  the 
Judean  desert ;  and  Nabal  the  Carmelite  was  at 
once  a  householder  and  an  owner  of  cattle  in  a  district 
where  the  settled  population  is  still  remarkable  for 
the  number  of  its  flocks  and  herds. 


48  Jtidas  MaccabcBus. 

The  character  of  the  peasantry  seems  also  to  have 
borne  a  strong  resemblance  to  that  of  the  modern 
Fellahin.  Untaught  and  uncared  for,  tortured  with 
fever  and  eye-sore,  with  paralysis  and  leprosy,  unable 
to  read  or  write,  and  grossly  superstitious,  they  were 
yet  remarkable  for  that  dignified  courtesy  which  is 
distinctive  of  Eastern  peoples  ;  and  though  the  exclu- 
sive feeling  which  confined  their  ideas  of  the  duties 
of  hospitality  to  their  "  neighbours"  (by  which  term 
they  understood  those  of  their  own  race  and  kin  to 
be  intended)  made  them  appear  brutal  in  the  eyes  of 
strangers,  still  among  themselves  there  was  no  doubt 
a  strong  feeling  of  clanship  and  of  mutual  helpfulness. 
The  morality  and  truthfulness  of  the  lower  class  was 
not,  however,  it  would  appear,  more  remarkable  of 
old  than  it  is  now.  "  A  lie  is  a  foul  blot  in  a  man," 
says  the  son  of  Sirach  ;  "  yet  is  it  continually  in  the 
mouth  of  the  untaught." — Ecclus.  xx.  24. 

With  regard  to  the  dress  and  arms  of  the  period, 
we  have,  at  best,  little  information ;  yet  the  con- 
servatism of  the  Semitic  people  in  all  such  matters, 
together  with  the  primitive  character  of  the  native 
dress  in  the  Palestine  of  to-day,  leads  to  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  ancient  costumes  were  much  like  the 
modern.  Of  this  conservatism  we  have  a  curious 
instance  in  the  history  of  the  growth  of  Hellenism 
in  Jerusalem,  where  it  is  recorded  of  the  High  Priest 
that  he    "brought   the   chief  young  men   under  his 


Dress  and  Arms,  49 

subjection,  and  made  them  wear  a  hat.  Now  such 
was  the  height  of  Greek  fashions  and  increase  of 
heathenish  manners  through  the  exceeding  profane- 
ness  of  Jason,  that  ungodly  wretch  and  no  high 
priest." — 2  Mace.  iv.  12. 

The  simple  dress  of  the  country-people  consisted 
of  the  shirt,  the  camel's-hair  cloak,  the  broad  leather 
belt,  shoes  with  latchets,  and  in  winter  the  warm 
sheepskin  jacket.  On  their  heads  they  probably  wore 
some  kind  of  turban  or  head-shawl,  and  the  women 
still  continued  to  favour  the  henna-painting  and 
tattooing  of  Jezebel,  and  the  "round  tires  like  the 
moon"  against  which  Isaiah  had  inveighed  (Isaiah 
iii.  18),  and  which,  with  other  primitive  articles  of 
dress,  are  still  worn  in  Palestine. 

The  dress  of  the  higher  class  is  also  probably  un- 
changed, the  articles  enumerated  as  parts  of  the  priest's 
costume  in  the  book  of  Exodus  being  essentially 
the  same  as  that  now  worn  by  the  sacred  Sheikhs  and 
Sokhtas  in  Jerusalem — the  coat  of  linen,  the  bonnet 
and  breeches  of  the  same,  and  the  variegated  waist- 
shawl  of  needlework. — Exod.  xxxix.  29. 

The  arms  and  armour  of  the  period  also  deserve  a 
word  of  notice ;  and  here  again  the  change  is  slight, 
except  in  as  far  as  the  introduction  of  gunpowder 
among  the  Arabs  has  modified  the  use  of  defensive 
armour.  The  spear  and  javelin,  which  have  now  been 
superseded  by  the  flint-lock  gun,  were  used  by  foot- 


50  Judas  Maccabmis. 

men,  and  a  sword,  which,  like  that  now  in  use, 
resembled  rather  a  Khanjar^  or  large  knife,  than  an 
European  sword.  Bucklers  were  also  worn,  and  the 
bow  and  stone-bow  were  employed.  Even  as  late  as 
the  14th  century  the  bow  and  buckler  were  in  use, 
as  described  by  travellers,  among  the  Syrian  Arabs, 
or  Saracens. 

The  defensive  armour  consisted  of  the  mail-coat 
(Sirion)  which  is  still  worn  east  of  Jordan,  and  of  the 
Kubah,  or  "  cup,"  a  steel  cap,  probably  with  a  nose- 
piece  and  spike  as  at  present.  Judas  himself  is 
spoken  of  as  wearing  a  breastplate,  but  in  a  manner 
which  seems  to  show  that  such  heavy  armour  was 
rarely  employed. — i  Mace.  iii.  3. 

The  Jews  were  not  a  nation  of  horsemen.  Their 
tactics  were  those  of  light  irregular  infantry.  Their 
principal  victories  were  won  in  places  where  the 
nature  of  the  ground  neutralised  the  enemy's  supe- 
riority in  cavalry.  Still  the  Runih,  or  lance,  is 
mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  if  it  resembled  the 
weapon  now  known  by  the  same  name — a  cane-lance, 
ten  to  fifteen  feet  long,  with  a  knife-like  steel  head — 
it  was  entirely  unfitted  for  the  use  of  unmounted 
men,  as  indeed  was  the  mail-shirt,  which  is  now 
worn  only  by  horsemen. 


CHAPTER     II. 

THE     NATIONAL     RELIGION. 

IN  the  preceding-  chapter  we  have  considered  the 
nation  mainly  from  a  social  point  of  view.  It 
has,  however,  been  pointed  out  that  religious  duties 
formed  the  main  employment  of  Jewish  life  among 
the  higher  class,  and  that  every  other  consideration 
was  sacrificed  by  the  pious  to  the  strict  and  minute 
observance  of  the  various  ordinances  of  the  Law. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  obtain  a  clear  idea  of  the 
state  of  religious  parties  at  the  time  of  the  revolt ;  for 
it  will  be  found  that  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the 
outbreak  was  a  reaction  from  the  latitudinarian 
tendencies  of  the  party  headed  by  the  High  Priests 
Jason  and  Menelaus. 

In  considering  these  questions,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  remember  that  the  Semitic  race 
naturally  regards  every  religious  question  from  a 
point  of  view  entirely  different  from  Aryan  ideas. 
The  fundamental  bases  of  their  faith  are  different^ 
from  those  which  lie  at  the  root  of  all  the  Aryan 


52  Judas  MaccabcBus, 

natural  religions,  and  the  adoption  of  heathen  fancies 
grafted  on  to  Hebrew  theology  resulted  in  an 
unnatural  doctrine  which  never  took  root  among  the 
people  of  Palestine. 

Hence  it  appears  to  have  arisen  that,  throughout 
Jewish  history,  any  attempt  to  bring  about  a  fusion 
with  the  Aryan  dominant  race  has  resulted  in  a 
reaction  which  has  left  the  Jews  more  proudly 
isolated  and  more  narrowly  prejudiced  than  before. 
It  was  so  in  the  time  of  Ezra,  in  the  Hasmonean 
period,  and  even  in  the  later  Roman  times. 

The  Jews  who  returned  from  Babylon  were  not 
indeed  like  their  fathers  who  went  into  captivity. 
They  had  even  lost  their  ancient  language  ;  they  had 
been  influenced  by  the  religion  of  their  Semitic 
conquerors ;  and  they  had  imbibed  many  foreign 
views ;  some  noble  and  refined,  which  recommended 
themselves  naturally  to  a  nation  having  a  spiritual 
monotheistic  religion  of  its  own  ;  some  fanciful  and 
grotesque,  which  mingled  strangely  with  the  dignified 
solemnity  of  their  original  creed. 

The  natural  disposition  of  the  Semitic  character  is 
remarkable  for  its  child-like  submissiveness  and  sim-- 
plicity.  The  same  narrowness  of  view,  the  same 
reverence  for  the  "  tradition  of  the  elders,"  the  same 
belief  in.  the  superiority  of  personal  customs  and 
inherited  habits  as  contrasted  with  all  that  is  new 
and  strange,  may  be  observed  in  the  Semitic  people, 


yewish  Conservatism,  53 

viewed  from  a  religious  standpoint,  and  in  the  child 
who  has  not  as  yet  begun  to  think  for  itself.  The 
Semitic  people  do  not  seem  to  attain  to  that  intellectual 
hardihood  which  is  necessary  for  original  thought  and 
progress.  They  conceive  nothing  better  or  nobler 
than  that  which  has  always  been  known  to  them,  and 
so  continue  to  walk  according  to  the  commands 
handed  down  to  them  by  their  fathers  from  of  old, 
and  are  anxious  only  to  assure  themselves  that  they 
have  understood  those  commands  aright. 

This  child-like  and  reverential  attitude  constitutes 
the  basis  of  the  Jewish  religion,  and  to  the  same 
unenquiring  disposition  of  mind,  characteristic  of  the 
Semitic  races,  the  tendency  to  a  belief  in  the 
marvellous,  which  is  so  strong  among  them,  is 
no  doubt  due.  The  conceit  which  arises  from 
isolation,  and  from  ignorance  of  the  progress  made 
by  others,  has  also  exerted  a  marked  influence 
on  the  history  of  the  Jewish  faith.  In  the  time 
of  Moses  the  superiority  of  the  nation  to  the 
surrounding  tribes  was  no  doubt  very  remarkable ; 
but  the  Jew  continued  to  regard  his  nation  as  a 
chosen  race  long  after  it  had  fallen  far  behind  others 
in  civilisation,  and  to  maintain  stoutly  that  any 
ordinance  not  in  accord  with  the  Law  of  Moses,  or 
which  in  any  way  tended  to  modify  that  Law  by 
adapting  it  to  the  manners  of  the  heathen,  was  not 
merely  mistaken,  but  positively  wicked. 


54  Judas  AlaccabcEZis. 

Another  point  of  striking  contrast  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  minds  is  the  want  of  aesthetic 
perception  which  characterises  the  former.  The 
worship  of  nature  was  foreign  to  the  Jewish  tempera- 
ment. The  passionate  appreciation  of  the  poetry  which 
surrounded  him  by  land  and  by  sea,  in  hill  and 
valley,  formed  the  key-note  of  the  Greek's  religion  and 
the  basis  of  his  mythology.  But  the  Jew  lived  in  a 
less  beautiful  land  :  careful  cultivation  was  necessary 
before  it  would  yield  enough  to  support  life ;  the  rock 
must  be  quarried  to  make  stores  for  water  ;  the  scanty 
soil  of  the  hill-side  must  be  carefully  terraced  ;  and 
thus  his  daily  life,  passed  in  toil  in  a  country  devoid 
of  romantic  scenery  and  under  a  burning  sun,  was 
less  enjoyable  than  that  of  the  Greek.  He  saw  in 
nature  the  works  of  God — "very  good,"  but  only 
intended  for  his  use  and  profit.  Soulless  in  them- 
selves, they  were  destined  to  be  burnt  up  in  "  fervent 
heat"  when  no  longer  required.  The  Greek  saw  in 
everything  a  portion  of  the  great  Divine  soul  of  the 
universe,  and  appreciated  easily  the  truth  of  the 
immortality  of  that  soul.  The  Jew  looked  only  to 
the  one  personal  Creator  and  Master  of  the  whole, 
and  to  the  duties  of  the  present  world  ;  "  for  there  is 
no  work,  nor  device,  nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in 
tl^  grave^  whither  thou  goest." 

Such  being  the  Semitic  character,  we  find  that  the 
influence  of  outer  nations  has  never  been  permanent, 


The  Separatists,  55 

or  generally  diffused.  In  the  case  of  the  revival  under 
Ezra,  the  personal  character  of  the  leaders  seems  to 
have  been  eminently  conservative.  And  it  is  at  this 
period  that  we  first  meet  that  cry  for  "separation" 
which  ultimately  formed  the  strong  ruling  party  of 
the  Pharisees. 

The  Jews  returned  from  captivity  to  find  their  land 
occupied  by  a  mixed  Semitic  people.  There  were 
the  ancient  Canaanite  inhabitants,  never  quite  exter- 
minated, but  living  as  serfs  and  tillers  of  the  ground  ; 
there  were  the  foreign  colonists  from  Cutha,  Ava, 
Ham.ath,  and  Sepharvaim,  introduced  by  the  Assyrians, 
and  with  whom  the  returning  Israelites  had  mixed  ; 
and  there  were  the  haif-caste  Jews,children  of  those  who 
had  taken  Canaanite,  Egyptian,  or  Phoenician  wives. 

It  would  appear  that  the  ruling  party  of  the  High 
Priest  was  not  adverse  to  this  fusion  of  the  various 
Semitic  tribes.  He  was  himself  allied  to  Sanballat, 
the  Samaritan  leader,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
latter  was  not  of  foreign  extraction.  It  was  the 
party  headed  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  which  first 
advocated  the  separation  of  the  "holy  seed"  from 
those  of  mixed  descent,  and  which  condemned 
alike,  under  one  sweeping  ban,  as  strangers  and 
uncircumcised,  the  heathen,  the  Samaritan,  and  the 
half-caste  Jew. 

The  party  of  the  separatists  was  at  first  small ;  the 
rulers  and  the  majority  of  the  nation — less  zealous  for 


56  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

their  religion — were  content  to  take  things  as  they 
were.  It  was  not  until  a  later  period  that  the  gradual 
growth  of  the  Puritanical  spirit  increased  the  numbers 
of  the  Pharisees,  until  they  became  more  powerful 
than  the  original  ruling  party.  In  the  time  of  Simon 
the  Just  the  name  Sadducee  began  first  to  be  applied 
to  those  who  were  content  with  the  old  orthodoxy ; 
it  was  derived  from  a  certain  leader  of  the  party,  who 
was  named  Sadoc,  and  Avas  not  a  descriptive  term 
like  the  word  Pharisee  or  "  separatist." 

The  Sadducean  party  adhered  to  the  original  spirit 
of  the  Law,  which  they  regarded  as  a  practical  rule 
of  life,  referring  solely  to  the  affairs  of  this  world, 
with  which  alone  man  was  concerned.  In  common 
with  the  Samaritans,  the  Sadducees  failed  to  find  in 
the  Law  any  reference  to  future  life,  and  they  gave 
but  little  thought  to  the  matter.  The  soul  might  be 
immortal,  or  it  might  not;  but  as  Moses  had  not 
directed  their  attention  specially  to  the  matter,  it 
could  not,  they  argued,  be  a  question  which  it  was 
important  for  mankind  to  decide. 

No  doubt,  the  more  ignorant  went  further,  and 
denied  the  Resurrection  altogether — an  accusation 
which  the  Pharisees  brought  against  the  whole  of 
their  opponents — but  the  Karaites,  the  oldest  of  the 
Jewish  sects,  confined  their  teaching  to  the  view  that 
the  promised  good  and  evil  of  the  Law  were  to  be 
understood  as  referring  to  things  temporal. 


The  Mehistanites.  57 

The  opposite  sect  of  the  Pharisees  was,  in  Has- 
monean  times,  yet  in  its  infancy.  The  separation 
under  Ezra  had  originated  the  party,  and  the  manifest 
tendency  of  the  Alexandrine,  or  Mizraimite,  school 
cannot  but  have  strengthened  the  Purists  in  their 
views ;  but  the  Mishna,  or  oral  law,  was  not  yet 
committed  to  writing,  and  the  gradual  development 
of  dogma  which,  as  time  went  on,  surrounded  not 
only  that  commentary,  but  also  eventually  the  Gemara, 
or  comment  on  the  Mishna,  with  a  halo  of  sanctity, 
can  evidently  not  have  been  reached  so  early.  The 
Sadducees  and  Pharisees  may  justly  be  compared  to 
the  English  Evangelical  and  Ritualistic  Church 
parties;  but  in  170  B.C.  the  Ritualists  were  only  just 
arising,  and  the  Evangelicals  were  the  larger  party. 

During  the  captivity,  the  Jews  had  come  into  contact 
with  the  Persian  dual  religion,  with  all  its  angelic  and 
demon  forms,  and  their  imagination  had  not  been 
unaffected.  It  is  remarkable  that  we  find  no  word  in 
the  Old  Testament  which  really  expresses  our  notion 
of  a  disembodied  powerful  spirit ;  but  this  is  not  the 
case  in  later  Jewish  writings.  The  Talmud  is  full  of 
ghost  lore,  and  of  the  influence  of  good  and  evil 
spirits.  The  Cabbalistic  book  Zohar  gives  the  names 
of  many  of  the  principal  angels  :  Gabriel,  Michael, 
Uriel,  and  Raphael,  seraphs  standing  in  front,  to  the 
right,  to  the  left,  and  at  the  back  of  the  throne  of 
Godj  Duma,  the  angel  of  silence  and  death;  Usiel 


58  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

and  Samchasai,  lovers  of  the  daughters  of  men  ;  and 
Samiel,  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air,  who  is  iden- 
tified with  the  serpent  and  with  the  evil  Ahriman  of 
the  Zend  Avesta.  There  were  spirits  of  water,  hail, 
bread,  and  fruits,  and  demons  who  inhabited  the 
meanest  out-houses  and  assumed  the  most  grotesque 
forms.  In  this  mythology  we  recognise  the  influence, 
on  a  certain  Jewish  school,  of  an  Aryan  people,  and 
the  same  spirit  which  saw  a  genius,  or  nymph,  in 
every  spring  and  stream. 

The  heretical  school  to  which  these  tenets  are 
ascribed  was  called  Mehistanite,  and  was  the  oldest 
unorthodox  Jewish  sect,  being  traced  back  to  the 
times  of  the  captivity.  The  book  of  Tobit,  dating 
not  later  than  200  B.C.,  is  a  production  of  this  school, 
and  in  it  Asmodeus  and  Raphael  appear  in  a  contest 
which  reminds  one  of  Persian  dualism.  Possession 
by  evil  spirits,  as  described  in  that  book,  was  one  of 
the  prominent  doctrines  of  the  Mehistanites. 

But  in  the  time  of  Simon  the  Just,  the  successor  of 
Ezra,  another  influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  the 
Jews — the  influence  of  an  Aryan  nation  far  more 
powerful  and  civilised  than  the  Persians ;  and  the 
effect  was,  for  the  time,  more  important  and  more 
general.  The  visit  of  Alexander  the  Great  resulted, 
as  has  been  noted  in  the  Introduction  to  this  volume, 
in  the  establishment  of  a  Jewish  colony  in  Egypt, 
and,  from  the  time  of  his  conquest  of  Palestine,  the 


The  Hellenists,  59 


Jews  were  thrown  into  communication  with  the 
Greeks,  and  became  famiHar  with  their  national 
customs  and  rehgious  observances. 

Returning — in  disobedience  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Law — to  the  land  of  bondage,  the  Jews  were  also 
once  more  brought  into  contact  with  the  spiritual 
religion  of  Egypt  at  the  very  time  at  which  they 
began  to  become  acquainted  with  the  philosophy  of 
Greece.  The  great  problem  of  the  imm.ortality  of  the 
soul  was  ever  prominent  in  the  thoughts  of  those  who 
built  the  pyramids  and  invented  the  stern  custom 
of  judging  the  past  lives  of  the  dead.  The  same 
problem  was  discussed  in  every  light  by  the  various 
philosophic  schools  of  Greece. 

Alexandria,  under  the  Ptolemies,  became  the  gate- 
way of  the  East  where  Oriental  life  touched  Western 
civilisation,  and  where  Rome,  Antioch,  and  Carthage 
found  a  common  centre  of  commerce  and  intellectual 
intercourse.  There  was  thus  a  close  connection 
between  the  school  of  the  Mizraimites  or  Egyptian 
Jews,  whose  peculiar  doctrines  were  due  to  the 
influence  of  heathen  philosophy  on  Jewish  religion, 
and  the  party  of  the  Hellenisers,  whose  aim  it  was  to 
assimilate  the  social  customs  of  the  nation  to  the 
manners  of  the  Gentiles.  A  religious  and  a  social 
movement  of  liberal  character  was  taking  place,  and 
the  name  Mizraimite  applied  to  the  religious  aspect, 
while  that  of  Hellenist  indicated  the  social. 


6o  Judas  MaccabcBus, 

On  the  speculative  systems  of  Greek  and  Egyptian, 
the  Jew  looked  from  his  own  peculiar  point  of  view. 
It  was  impossible  for  a  nation,  whose  education  since 
the  time  of  Moses  had  tended  solely  to  the  abnega- 
tion of  personal  opinion  and  to  implicit  faith  in  the 
all-sufficiency  of  the  Law,  to  accept  freely  the  new 
philosophy.  Yet  the  Egyptian  Jews  seem  to  have 
been  attracted  by  Greek  teaching,  and  it  is  indeed 
possible  that  the  Mizraimites  found  themselves  in  a 
false  position,  for  by  returning  to  Egypt  they  had 
disobeyed  the  plain  spirit  of  that  law  which  forbade 
the  King  of  Israel  to  do  anything  which  might  tend 
to  induce  a  return  to  the  land  of  bondage.  They 
were  thus  naturally  inclined  to  seek  explanations 
other  than  those  which  appeared  plainly  on  the  face 
of  their  Sacred  Books ;  and  the  same  motives  which 
led  in  the  Jerusalem  school  to  the  most  minute 
criticism  and  most  careful  "hedging  round"  of  the 
Law,  in  order  to  secure  the  exact  fulfilment  of  its 
precepts,  gave  rise  in  Egypt  to  mystic  and  allegorical 
interpretations  which,  like  the  specious  evasions  of 
the  Pharisees,  explained  away  the  manifest  original 
meaning  of  the  Sacred  Commandments,  though  they 
had  become,  through  long  custom,  too  much  a  part 
of  the  Jewish  nature  to  allow  of  their  being  openly 
renounced. 

The  Sacred  Books  were  written,  moreover,  in  a 
classic  language  which  was  no  longer  generally  under- 


The  Septuagmt.  6i 


stood,  and  which  held  just  the  same  relation  to  the 
common  tongue  that  the  Vulgate  Latin  holds  to  the 
modern  Italian  :  Hebrew  was  the  language  of  the 
educated,  and,  though  easily  translated,  the  Books  of 
Moses  were  by  themselves  unintelligible.  This 
difficulty  had  been  overcome  at  Jerusalem  by  the 
expedient  of  public  reading  in  the  original,  followed 
by  interpretation  in  Aramaic  ;  but  this  clumsy  method 
seems  to  have  been  insufficient  to  satisfy  the  Alex- 
andrine Jews,  amongst  whom,  in  the  century  following 
their  establishment,  there  must  have  been  many 
students  who  were  anxious  to  study  the  Law,  but 
who  were  only  able  to  read  Greek. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  translation  of  the 
Sacred  Books  into  Greek  is,  however,  stated  by 
Josephus  to  have  been  the  desire  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus  to  understand  Jewish  institutions,  and  to  add 
a  version  of  their  Law  to  his  library.  The  Jews  of 
Jerusalem  were  at  this  period  feeling  flattered  by  the 
honours  which  had  been  lavished  upon  them  by 
powerful  and  civilised  rulers.  They  had  not  yet 
discovered  the  danger  which  lay  in  lending  an  ear  to 
the  devices  of  the  heathen  ;  and  the  heresy  of  the 
Alexandrine  school  had  not  yet  become  sufficiently 
pronounced  to  excite  that  alarm  and  repugnance 
which,  as  will  be  seen,  soon  seized  on  the  more  con- 
servative party.  The  royal  request  for  experienced 
translators  was  met  with  courtesy  by  the  High  Priest, 


62  Judas  MaccabcEus, 

Eleazar  IL,  and  in  the  7th  year  of  Ptolemy  Phila- 
delphus  (B.C.  2"]^]),  the  seventy  elders  were  sent  to 
Alexandria  to  translate  into  Greek  the  Sacred  Torah. 
How  bitterly  the  nation  afterwards  repented  its 
temporary  backsliding  in  complying  with  the  per- 
suasion of  the  heathen,  is  evidenced  in  the  subsequent 
establishment  by  the  Pharisees  of  a  fast  on  the  8th 
of  Tebeth  in  memory  of  the  translation,  and  in  their 
prohibition  to  write  copies  of  the  Law  with  letters  of 
gold,  such  as  had  been  employed  in  the  original 
Greek  manuscript. 

In  the  Septuagint  version  traces  are  still  to  be 
found  of  the  latitudinarian  views  of  its  authors.  The 
codex  from  which  it  was  taken  cannot  have  been 
identical  with  those  from  which  the  English  text  is 
derived.  The  anthropomorphisms  of  the  Hebrew 
have  been  expunged,  studied  variations  are  also  to  be 
found,  and  passages  occur  which  are  not  in  our 
English  Bible,  notably  in  the  fourth  chapter  of 
Genesis.  In  these  respects  the  Greek  translation 
approaches  very  closely  to  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch, 
but  on  the  other  hand  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
these  versions  have  often  preserved  the  meaning  of 
the  original  Hebrew,  which  was  lost,  later,  by  the 
Jerusalem  school. 

The  translation  of  the  Pentateuch  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  the  main  causes  of  the  gradual  estrange- 
ment which  grew  up  between  the  Alexandrine  school 


The  Cabbala.  63 


and  the  orthodox  party  at  Jerusalem ;  but  at  the 
time  at  which  the  story  of  the  war  of  Independence 
opens,  the  Jews  in  Egypt  were  still  directly  under  the 
authority  of  the  High  Priest  in  the  Holy  Land.  The 
views  of  the  Alexandrine  Jews,  or  Mizraimites,  were, 
however,  already  very  advanced. 

As  early  as  160  B.C.  a  Jewish  priest  of  Alexandria, 
named  Aristobulus,  wrote  and  dedicated  to  Ptolemy 
VI.  a  work  most  characteristic  of  those  peculiar  tenets 
which  resulted  from  an  attempt  to  reconcile  Faith 
and  Philosophy.  He  contended  that  the  Peripatetic 
philosophy  was  derived  from  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  and  to  these  latter  he  gave  throughout 
an  allegorical  interpretation.  His  works  are  full  of 
quotations  from  Orpheus  and  Musaeus,  and  are  the 
precursors  of  those  mystic  interpretations  of  the  plain 
letter  of  the  Law  which  reached  their  fullest  develop- 
ment in  the  writings  of  Philo,  the  contemporary  of 
Christ. 

It  was  in  the  Alexandrine  school  that  the  Cabbala 
sprung  up  and  flourished.  The  Jews  brought  with 
them  to  Egypt  the  mystic  doctrines  of  the  Mehis- 
tanites,  and  combined  them  with  the  speculations 
of  the  Peripatetics,  and  with  the  idealism  of  the 
Egyptians.  Hence  arose  that  vast  maze  of  allegorical 
and  fanciful  comment  on  the  Books  of  Moses,  which, 
in  the  time  of  Christ,  stood  side  by  side  with  the 
endless  quibbles  of  the  Pharisees,  who  were  attempt- 


64  yudas  MaccabcBUS. 

ing  to  give  precision  to,  and  either  to  evade  or  to 
ensure  exact  fulfilment  of,  the  very  precepts  which  the 
Mizraimites  were  doing  their  utmost  to  explain  away. 

A  short  notice  of  the  main  features  of  that  mystic 
study  known  as  Cabbala,  or  "tradition,"  will  serve  to 
make  clear  the  tendency  of  the  Egyptian  school  of 
Jewish  doctrine.  The  Cabbalists  pretended  that  their 
dogmas  were  derived  by  direct  tradition  from  Adam, 
and  taught  to  him  by  the  Angel  Raziel.  They  thus 
far  outwent  the  Talmudists  in  their  pretensions,  for 
the  latter  only  claimed  for  their  great  work — the 
Mishna,  or  "second"  law — an  antiquity  equal  to  that 
of  the  Mikra,  or  "written"  law,  of  which  it  was 
supposed  to  be  the  necessary  supplement. 

Three  studies  were  embraced  under  the  name 
Cabbala,  without  including  the  practical  Cabbala,  which 
taught  merely  the  construction  of  charms  and  talis- 
mans, such  as  are  still  used  in  Egypt.  These  three 
are  known  as  Dogmatic,  Metaphysical,  and  Numeric 
(or  Symbolic)  Cabbalas,  and  may  be  briefly  noticed  in 
turn. 

Dogmatic  Cabbala  was  the  oldest  of  these  mystic 
studies,  and  was  intimately  connected  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  Mehistanites.  It  treated  of  the 
unseen  world,  and  the  treatise  Zohar,  "the  book  of 
splendour,"  gives  the  names  of  God  and  of  His 
angels,  which  the  Jews  are  said  to  have  learned  in 
Babylon,  and  also  those  of  demons  and  of  genii,  the 


Jewish  Metaphysics.  65 

latter  being  considered  by  the  Cabbalists  (as  by  the 
modern  Arabs)  to  be  a  race  intermediate  between 
men  and  angels.  The  doctrines  of  metempsychosis, 
of  possession,  and  of  a  double  spirit  inhabiting  a 
single  body,  were  part  of  this  teaching ;  and  the 
influence  of  the  Zoroastrian  dualism  is  traceable  in 
the  grouping  of  good  angels  under  the  "  Angel  of  the 
Presence,"  while  the  evil  spirits  are  arrayed  under  the 
authority  of  Samael,  "  Prince  of  the  Powers  of  the  Air." 

The  Metaphysical  Cabbala  was  a  yet  deeper  study, 
and  presented  a  curious  mixture  of  Persian  dualism 
with  the  Greek  doctrine  of  an  infinite  soul  of  the 
universe.  The  Cabbalists  attacked  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  evil,  and  taught  a  beautiful  truth  when  they 
regarded  creation  as  an  emanation  of  the  Deity. 
Evil  they  treated  not  as  a  positive  and  antagonistic 
quality,  but  as  negative,  and  as  being  a  deficiency  of 
the  good,  or,  as  they  expressed  it,  a  less  close  approach 
to  the  central  light.  A  good  parallel  to  such  a 
doctrine  may  be  found  in  Newton's  theory  of  light, 
which  regards  darkness  as  negative,  contrasting  with 
Goethe's  fanciful  representation  of  darkness  as  a 
positive  and  opposite  entity. 

Creation  was  an  emanation  of  God,  according  to 
the  Cabbalists,  and  the  development  was  three-fold. 
The  "Ancient  of  Days"  was  manifested  in  idea,  in 
speech,  and  in  action.  The  idea  was  personified  in 
the  mysterious  Wisdom  which  first  appears    in    the 


66  Judas  MaccabcBits. 

Book  of  Proverbs ;  the  speech  was  typified  by  the 
Word,  or  Angel  of  the  Presence ;  finally,  action  was 
shown  in  the  creation  of  the  Adam  Kadmon,  "the 
Old  or  First  Adam,"  from  whom  all  other  living 
things  were  in  order  evolved. 

Of  Numerical  Cabbala  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak 
fully.  The  study  was  too  intricate  and  extensive  to 
allow  of  brief  description.  The  general  idea  was 
that  of  minute  study  of  the  characters  in  which  the 
Sacred  Books  were  written,  according  to  various  rules, 
for  the  interpretation  of  a  symbolic  and  mystic  hidden 
Jncaning  which  the  letters  were  supposed  to  indicate. 
The  study  was  again  divided  into  three,  but  the 
oldest  method  of  playing  with  the  text  consisted  in 
the  device  called  Atbash,  which  was  a  permutation  of 
the  letters  after  the  fashion  of  an  anagram.  This 
practice  was  certainly  as  ancient  as  the  time  of  Judas 
Maccabaeus. 

To  modern  students  the  Symbolic  Cabbala  appears 
to  be  a  mere  trifling  with  useless  puzzles  unworthy  of 
mature  intellects.  It  originated,  nevertheless,  in  the 
extreme  veneration  with  which  the  Jews  regarded 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  idea  that  the  Inspiring 
Spirit  directed  the  choice  of  each  letter  of  the  text. 
The  Cabbala  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
students  of  the  dark  ages,  and  many  a  curious  super- 
stition still  lingering  among  us  can  be  traced  back  to 
its  forgotten  doctrines. 


hnmortality  of  the  Righteous,  67 

Works  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  Cabbalists 
were  abundant  in  the  time  of  the  Hasmoneans,  and 
a  few  of  these  are  still  left  to  us,  as,  for  instance,  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  a  book  dated  about  150  B.C. 
Its  doctrines  approach  to  those  of  Philo,  including 
the  pre-existence  of  souls,  the  formation  of  the  world 
from  formless  matter,  the  existence  of  a  soul  of  the 
universe,  the  four  cardinal  virtues,  free  will,  the  belief 
in  a  "  tempter,"  and,  finally,  the  typical  interpretation 
of  Scripture. 

In  this  book,  probably  the  latest  of  the  group 
including  Ecclesiastes  and  Ecclesiasticus,  there  is 
still  no  distinct  teaching  as  to  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  or  as  to  the  resurrection  ;  nor  is  the  expectation 
of  a  future  divine  or  temporal  King  expressed  in  it. 
Probably  the  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  held 
with  Philo  that  death  was  the  true  resurrection,  or 
"standing  up"  (Anastasis)  of  the  soul  from  the  body. 
The  righteous  are  promised  eternal  life  (Wisdom 
ii.  15),  as  among  the  later  Jewish  schools,  but  whether 
in  a  spiritual  or  corporeal  condition  is  left  undefined, 
and  we  still  find  the  echo  of  the  old  Sadducean 
materialistic  doctrine,  "Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of 
man  that-  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast 
that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth }  Wherefore  I 
perceive  that  there  is  nothing  better,  than  that  a  man 
should  rejoice  in  his  own  works ;  for  that  is  his 
portion." 


68  Jtidas  MaccabcBUS. 

It  is  not  a  little  important  to  understand  clearly 
what  was  the  general  Jewish  expectation  at  this  time 
with  regard  to  a  future  Messiah,  or  anointed  King, 
temporal  or  spiritual.  If,,  at  the  time  of  the  revolt, 
such  an  expectation  had  been  general,  there  would 
no  doubt  have  been  a  strong  party  which  would  have 
recognised  in  the  appearance  of  Judas  the  fulfilment 
of  their  hopes.  Yet  in  the  history  of  the  Hasmoneans 
we  find  no  hint  that  he  was  ever  so  regarded.  In  the 
books  above  referred  to,  the  familiar  names  "  Son  of 
Man"  and  "Anointed  Prince"  do  not  occur;  and  the 
dictatorship  of  the  Hasmoneans  was  never  accepted 
as  more  than  a  temporary  arrangement,  to  last  until, 
by  the  appearance  of  a  faithful  prophet,  the  original 
theocracy  of  the  time  of  Samuel  should  be  re- 
established. 

The  development  which  had  been  attained  at  the 
Christian  era  with  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  an 
Anointed  Prince,  we  may  gather  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  from  the  later  Talmudic  works  and  Targums. 
A  Prince  of  the  House  of  David  was  to  be  born  at 
Bethlehem  of  Judea,  and  to  rule  the  people  of  Israel. 
Some  sects  supposed  this  reign  of  Messias  to  be 
temporal,  and  to  precede  the  general  resurrection  of 
the  righteous ;  other  sects  held  the  reign  to  be 
spiritual,  and  that  it  would  succeed  the  renewal  of  all 
things.  In  support  of  these  discordant  views,  the 
prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Zechariah,  the  Psalms,  and 


The  Expected  Prophet,  69 

other  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  were  quoted,  and 
the  word  Messiah  was  inserted  into  the  Targums,  or 
Aramaic  paraphrases  of  these  passages.  Such  expec- 
tations are  found  fully  developed  in  works  like  the 
so-called  "  Psalms  of  Solomon,"  and  in  other  Jewish 
writings  of  the  Herodian  period. 

In  the  earlier  works,  dating  from  the  Hasmonean 
times,  we  find  no  such  expectations  expressed.  In 
the  Bible,  the  references  on  which  the  Jews  afterwards 
relied  have  not,  as  a  rule,  that  definite  character  which 
distinguishes  those  in  the  Psalms  of  Solomon,  and  in 
the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  we  find  an  eloquent  prayer 
for  restoration,  such  as  might  well  date  from  the 
time  of  the  persecution  under  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
(Ecclesiasticus  xxxvi.),  yet  there  is  no  mention  of 
Messiah  in  the  whole  passage.  "  Take  away  the 
adversary"  is  the  prayer  of  the  son  of  Sirach,  "raise 
up  prophets,"  and  "  let  thy  prophets  be  found  faithful." 

In  later  times  the  two  hopes  thus  cherished  stood 
side  by  side ;  the  faithful  prophet  and  the  anointed 
prince  were  both  awaited.  Still  later,  in  the  4th  and 
5th  centuries,  the  passage  in  the  Pentateuch  relating 
to  a  future  prophet  was  explained  by  the  Rabbis  to 
refer  to  the  succession  of  prophets  from  Moses  to 
Malachi.  At  the  time  which  we  are  now  considering, 
the  prophet  alone  is  the  prominent  figure,  and  the 
anointed  prince  is  unnoticed.  This  is  no  doubt  the 
simplest  explanation  of  the  fact  that  Judas  Maccab^eus 


70  Jtidas  Maccabceus, 

never  claimed,  and  never  was  believed,  to  be  the 
"  Lord's  Anointed." 

The  expectation  of  a  future  prophet  is  clearly 
brought  out  in  the  Books  of  the  Maccabees.  It  was 
an  ancient  and  orthodox  dogma,  and  one  which  still 
survives  among  the  modern  Samaritans.  It  was 
founded  on  a  very  distinct  promise  in  the  Law  of 
Moses — "  The  Lord  thy  God  will  raise  up  unto  thee 
a  prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of  thy  brethren, 
like  unto  me ;  unto  him  ye  shall  hearken."  And 
this  hope  formed  the  basis  of  all  the  temporary 
arrangements  for  self-government  which  the  Jews 
made  under  the  direction  of  Judas  and  Simon.  The 
stones  of  the  desecrated  altar  were  laid  up  "  until 
there  should  come  a  prophet  to  show  them  what 
should  be  done."  Simon  was  accepted  as  Governor 
and  High  Priest  "until  there  should  arise  a  faithful 
prophet." — I  Mace.  xiv.  41.  And  according  to  some, 
it  was  Elias  himself  who  was  to  return. — Malachi 
iv.  5  ;  Ecclus.  xlviii.  11. 

The  present  sketch  of  religious  sects  among  the 
Jews  about  170  B.C.  would  be  incomplete  without  a 
short  notice  of  the  Samaritans  as  then  existing. 

At  the  present  time  the  small  remnant  of  this 
interesting  people  surviving  at  Shechem  presents 
probably  the  nearest  approach  to  original  Judaism 
that  we 'can  find  anywhere.  They  hold  the  old 
Sadducean  views  with  regard  to  the  Law  and  the 


The  Samaritans.  71 


future  life ;  they  observe  the  Passover  strictly  in 
accordance  with  the  ordinances  in  Exodus  ;  and  they 
believe  that  a  prophet  like  unto  Moses  is  still  to  be 
expected  before  the  final  destruction  of  the  world. 

Of  the  Samaritans,  we  have  two  accounts  extant — 
the  one  their  own,  the  other  that  of  their  enemies,  the 
Jews.  The  first  is  unfortunately  so  late  as  to  be  of 
comparatively  little  value,  though  there  seems  reason 
to  believe  that  the  author  of  the  "  Samaritan 
Chronicle"  drew  from  older  authentic  sources.  The 
Jewish  accounts  of  the  Samaritans — those  of  Josephus 
and  of  the  Talmudists — are  so  evidently  warped  by 
the  feeling  of  bitter  sectarian  hate,  that  they  cannot 
be  received  without  the  greatest  hesitation.  Unfortu- 
nately, we  do  not  find  in  the  Bible  materials  sufficient 
to  enable  us  to  determine  how  far  the  later  Jewish 
writings  can  be  believed.  The  inhabitants  of  Samaria 
are  spoken  of  in  the  Old  Testament  as  a  mixed 
people,  including  the  Cuthean  colonists  ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  clear  that  many  of  the  Israelites  of 
the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  remained  in  their 
native  land  even  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  (2  Chr.  xxxiv.  9 ;  Jer.  xli.  5),  and 
it  is  from  these  sons  of  Joseph  that  the  Samaritans 
claim  and  have  always  claimed  to  be  descended,  while 
their  priestly  family  was  admitted  by  the  Jews,  even 
as  late  as  the  12th  century,  to  be  derived  from  the 
stock  of  Aaron.     The  distinctive  physiognomy  of  the 


72  yudas  MaccabcBUS. 

modern  Samaritans,  approaching  as  it  does  closely  to 
that  of  the  Jews,  is  a  strong  confirmation  of  their 
claim,  and  the  existence  of  an  ancient  and  valuable 
codex  of  the  five  books  of  Moses  at  Shechem  may 
also  be  cited  in  favour  of  the  Israelite  origin  of  the 
Samaritans. 

The  Jews  have,  on  the  other  hand,  generally  main- 
tained that  their  enemies  are  descendants  of  the 
Cuthean  colonists.  In  a  few  passages  of  Josephus 
and  in  the  Targums  they  are,  however,  called 
Sidonians — an  assertion  which  can  hardly  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  former  assertion  that  they  are  Cuthim. 

The  temple  built  by  Sanballat  on  Gerizim  had 
already  become  a  rival  to  that  at  Jerusalem  by  170  B.C. 
The  bitter  enmity  which  arose  in  the  time  of  Ezra 
between  Jews  and  Samaritans  was  caused  by  the 
refusal  of  the  former  to  allow  any  participation  in 
the  work  of  restoration  at  the  Jerusalem  Temple  ;  or, 
according  to  the  opposite  account,  by  the  secession  of 
the  Jews  from  the  rest  of  Israel,  who  were  proceeding 
to  Gerizim  to  rebuild  the  Temple  on  the  site  of  the 
old  "  Sanctuary  of  Jehovah."  This  enmity  had 
become  deeper  and  deeper  as,  during  three  centuries, 
wrongs  and  retaliations  had  accumulated  ;  and  at  the 
period  with  which  we  are  now  concerned,  the  Samari- 
tans had,  moreover,  succeeded  in  extending  their 
frontier  to-  the  south,  so  as  to  include  places  afterwards 
recovered  by  the  Jews. 


yewisk  and  Samaritan  Disputes.         73 

Samaritans  were  to  be  found  in  Alexandria,  and 
here  also  they  lived  at  enmity  with  the  Jews.  The 
Samaritans  claim  that  it  was  from  their  version  of  the 
Law,  not  from  that  of  the  Jews,  that  the  Greek 
translation  was  made  in  Alexandria  ;  and  though  the 
authority  for  this  statement  is  very  late,  we  have  still 
the  curious  fact  that  the  Greek  version  approaches 
much  closer  to  the  Samaritan  than  to  that  later 
Masoretic  text  established  by  the  Pharisees,  and  from 
which  our  English  translation  is  derived.  Impartial 
scholars  have  often  pointed  out  that,  in  many  cases, 
the  true  meaning  is  best  preserved  by  the  Alexandrine 
text. 

In  Hasmonean  times,  fierce  disputes  arose  in  Alex- 
andria with  regard  to  the  true  chosen  site  of  the 
Temple.  The  Samaritans  were  able  to  point  out 
that  while  Ebal  and  Gerizim  are  mentioned  as  being 
the  mountains  of  the  curses  and  blessings,  Jerusalem 
is  not  noticed  at  all  by  name  in  the  Law  of  Moses. 
The  Jews  appear  to  have  contented  themselves  with 
a  de  facto  argument,  and  urged  that  foreign  princes 
had  always  done  exclusive  honour  to  the  Jerusalem 
sanctuary; 

According  to  Josephus,  the  decision  of  Ptolemy 
Philometer  was  in  favour  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Samari- 
tans were  beheaded  (Ant.  xiii.  3,  4) ;  but  it  would  be 
interesting  to  hear  the  opposite  side  of  the  story. 
Josephus  was  a  Pharisee — one  of  that  party  which 


74  yztdas  MaccabcBus, 

specially  detested  the^Cuthim.  He  is  known  to  have 
made  either  a  blunder  or  a  wilful  misstatement  with 
regard  to  Sanballat,  for  his  account  of  the  building  of 
the  Gerizim  temple  contradicts  the  account  of  the 
Book  of  Ezra,  unless  we  admit  the  unlikely  hypothesis 
that  there  were  two  Sanballats  in  succeeding  centuries, 
each  allied  by  marriage  to  the  then  reigning  High 
Priest  in  Jerusalem.  The  statements  of  Josephus  in 
matters  like  these,  where  his  sectarian  prejudices 
interfere,  must  therefore  be  accepted  with  caution. 

It  remains  briefly  to  sum  up  the  main  points  of  the 
questions  touched  on  in  the  preceding  pages. 

At  the  time  immediately  preceding  the  revolt  of 
Judas,  we  find  that  the  orthodox  Jewish  tenets  were 
those  of  the  Sadducees,  and  that  the  party  of  the 
Pharisees  was  still  in  its  infancy.  The  devout  Jews 
were  in  expectation  of  the  appearance  of  a  prophet 
promised  by  Moses,  but,  as  far  as  the  existing  litera- 
ture of  the  subject  goes,  we  have  no  proof  that  the 
definite  belief  in  a  future  Anointed  Prince  of  the 
House  of  David  had  arisen  as  early  as  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Hasmonean  period. 

The  heretical  sect  of  the  Mizraimites,  holding  the 
mystic  dogmas  of  the  Alexandrine  Jews,  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  become  a  very  important  religious  school. 
Their  peculiar  views  had  spread  even  in  Palestine,  and 
the  admiration  of  Greek  customs  among  all  the  free- 
thinking  Jews,  whether  Egyptian  or  Syrian,  had  given 


Position  of  Parties.  y^ 

great  offence  to  the  orthodox  even  in  Jerusalem,  as 
will  be  narrated  in  a  future  chapter. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  religious  thought  when 
Antiochus  Epiphanes  came  to  the  throne.  Had  he 
been  content  to  leave  the  Jews  to  themselves,  and  had 
he  given  time  for  the  gradual  spread  of  the  Hellenising 
heresy  which  was  sapping  the  very  foundations  of 
Judaism,  the  history  of  the  world  must  have  been 
materially  modified,  and  the  basis  on  which  Chris- 
tianity was  first  founded  might  perhaps  never  have  been 
consolidated.  A  reaction  had  commenced  in  a  very 
small  but  zealous  party,  which  preserved  the  tradition 
of  "separation"  handed  down  from  the  time  of  Ezra, 
and  which  demanded  a  return  to  the  strictest  and 
most  literal  interpretation  of  the  Law  of  Moses,  and 
the  entire  repudiation  of  everything  derived  from  the 
heathen  outer  world.  This  party  only  required  a 
leader  to  rally  it,  and  a  persecutor  to  fan  the  flame  of 
its  zeal.  The  persecutor  was  Antiochus  Epiphanes ; 
the  leader  proved  to  be  Judas  Maccabasus. 


CHAPTER     III. 

THE      REVOLT. 
170  B.C.— 165  B.C. 

"  A  FTER  the  Macedonians  obtained  supremacy  in 
-^  the  East,  King  Antiochus  endeavoured  to  root 
out  the  Jewish  superstition,  but  was  hindered  by  a 
Parthian  war  from  reforming  this  vilest  of  people." — 
Tacitus,  History^  v.  8. 

With  these  few  but  bitter  words  the  Roman 
historian  contemptuously  dismisses  the  history  of  the 
great  struggle  for  freedom,  successfully  carried  out 
by  the  Hebrew  nation,  which  he  hated. 

It  is  not,  however,  in  such  a  spirit  that  an  impartial 
student  of  history  will  regard  the  episode  of  the  revolt 
from  the  Greek  rule  which  Judas  Maccabaeus  con- 
ducted. The  position  of  an  independent  Prince,  or 
Ethnarch,  in  Palestine  may  have  had  little  political 
importance  at  the  time,  for  the  country  had  neither 
trade  nor  harbours,  and  its  whole  extent  was  not  much 
greater  th'an  the  area  of  Yorkshire.  Yet  we  cannot  now 
forget  that  Palestine  was  the  cradle  of  Christianity, 


Jew  and  Gentile.  yy 

and  that  the  Jewish  rehgion,  which  Judas  saved  and 
defended  at  a  time  when  its  entire  extinction  was 
threatened,  became  the  basis  of  the  faith  of  Christen- 
dom, and  has  not  only  shaped  the  history  of  Europe, 
but  still  forms  one  of  the  main  springs  of  modern 
politics. 

A  silent  revolution  was  taking  place  in  Jewish 
thought  and  habits  at  the  time  when  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  came  to  the  throne.  The  influence  of 
Greek  culture  was  beginning  to  be  felt  not  only  in 
Egypt  or  Syria,  among  the  foreign  Jews,  but  even  in 
Palestine  and  in  the  Holy  City.  The  toleration 
shown  by  Alexander  the  Great  had  brought  Jew  and 
Gentile  into  new  and  friendly  relations,  and  a  ruler  as 
wise  and  far-seeing  as  was  the  great  conqueror  would 
have  been  content  to  allow  the  movement  to  develop 
itself  with  results  which  we  cannot  calculate.  The 
obstinate  and  hasty  measures  enforced  by  Epiphanes 
saved  Judaism  in  attempting  to  destroy  it,  and  created 
the  reaction  which  purged  it  at  once  of  every  foreign 
element,  and  stamped  it  with  a  distinct  character  of 
its  own. 

It  has  been  already  narrated  in  the  Introduction 
that  two  claimants  were  at  this  time  struggling  for 
the  office  of  High  Priest — Jesus,  or  Jason,  the  rightful 
heir,  supported  by  the  national  voice ;  and  Menelaus, 
also  called  Onias,  the  nominee  of  Antiochus.  It 
must  not,  however,  be  supposed  that  two  contending 


78  Judas  MaccabcBUs. 

parties  were  represented  by  the  rivals,  for  both  were 
deeply  tainted  with  Hellenistic  heresy,  and  the  contest 
was  purely  personal  and  political. 

Menelaus  and  his  companions  lived  at  the  Court  of 
Antiochus  in  open  defiance  of  the  Law  of  Moses. 
Jason,  meantime,  was  busy  in  Jerusalem  familiarising 
the  astonished  inhabitants  with  Greek  customs,  which 
raised  in  the  breasts  of  the  older  and  more  conserva- 
tive feelings  of  mingled  contempt  and  wrath.  Among 
the  charges  which  have  been  recorded  against  him  is 
one  already  noticed — that  he  introduced  among  the 
young  men  of  good  family  the  fashion  of  wearing  a 
hat ;  and  trivial  as  this  innovation  may  appear  to  us 
in  Europe,  those  who  know  the  East  will  appreciate 
the  importance  which  must  have  been  attached  to  the 
change,  and  will  remember  the  veneration  with  which 
the  national  head-dress  is  regarded. 

A  more  serious  innovation  was,  however,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  gymnasium  in  Jerusalem,  under  the 
western  walls  of  the  Temple — the  remains  of  the 
building  being  perhaps  still  recognisable  in  an  ancient 
chamber  recently  discovered.  In  this  profane  place, 
even  the  priests  of  Jehovah  were  to  be  seen  engaging 
m  unseemly  struggles,  casting  aside  their  sacred 
robes,  and  contending  for  popular  applause  in  the 
heathen  game  of  Discus.  To  a  proud  and  dignified 
Semitic  people,  nothing  can  have  appeared  more 
degrading,  or  unworthy  of  the  sacred  vocation,  than 


Heathen  Festivals  in  Palestine,  79 

this  participation  in  performances  which  they  must 
have  regarded  as  fit  only  for  hired  clowns,  or  for  the 
heathen. 

Heathen  festivals  also  began  to  be  celebrated  in 
Palestine,  and  were  attended  by  the  Jews,  in  direct 
disobedience  to  the  Mosaic  commands.  The  feasts 
of  Bacchus  were  honoured  in  the  Holy  Land,  and 
Jason  sent  representatives  with  rich  presents  to  attend 
the  games  in  honour  of  Hercules,  celebrated  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Kings  of  Antioch  every  fifth  year 
at  Tyre. 

Another  festival,  which  seems  probably  to  be  of 
heathen  origin,  was  that  celebrated  twice  a-year  at 
Motza,  in  a  deep,  well-watered  valley  west  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  Jewish  maidens  came  out  to  meet  the 
young  men  at  this  place  with  songs  and  dances — a 
ceremony  very  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Judaism  ;  and 
though  said  to  commemorate  the  old  festival  of 
Shiloh,  when  the  Benjamites  chose  their  wives  from 
the  women  dancing  in  the  vineyards,  this  feast  calls 
to  mind  irresistibly  the  processions  of  the  Greek 
mysteries. 

On  such  innovations  the  orthodox  looked  in  much 
the  same  spirit  in  which  the  "  Old  Turk"  of  our  day 
regards  our  western  customs  and  our  European 
games,  or  athletics.  As  he  considers  every  law  to  be 
vicious  if  not  based  on  the  Koran,  so  did  the  devout 
Jew  regard  laws  at  variance  with  the  commands  of 


So  Judas  MaccabcBMS. 

Moses.  As  the  Moslem  looks  with  horror  on  the 
proposal  to  place  Christian  and  Mahommedan  on  an 
equal  footing,  so  did  the  Jew  regard  the  proposal  to 
raise  the  Gentile  to  a  position  of  equality  with  himself. 
But  yet  more — as  the  "young  Turkish  party"  too 
often  apes  the  irreligion  and  immorality  not  less  than 
the  dress  of  the  West,  so  did  the  Hellenisers  imitate 
the  vices  and  depraved  customs,  as  well  as  the 
costume,  of  the  Greeks. 

Such  was  the  state  of  national  feeling  when  the 
savage  and  disappointed  Antiochus  formed  his  rash 
project  of  destroying  all  that  was  distinctive  in 
Jewish  customs  and  religion.  He  judged  the  temper 
of  the  people,  no  doubt,  from  the  renegade  Jews  whom 
he  had  encountered  in  Antioch.  He  understood 
neither  the  attachment  with  which  the  bulk  of  the 
nation  regarded  their  ancient  Law,  nor  the  stubborn 
courage  and  endurance  of  which  the  Jews  were 
capable. 

Returning  from  his  fourth  Egyptian  campaign, 
Antiochus  detached  a  party  under  one  of  his  officers, 
Apollonius,  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  Apollonius  was 
made  Governor  of  Palestine,  and  instructed  not 
merely  to  collect  the  taxes,  but  to  put  down,  by 
stringent  measures,  every  distinguishing  Jewish  custom. 
Circumcision  was  forbidden,  the  Sabbath  was  to  be 
desecrated,  the  copies  of  the  Law  to  be  collected  and 
burnt,  the  Jews  to  be  forced  to  eat  swine's  flesh,  and 


The  Persecution.  8i 


the  Temple  to  be  desecrated  by  foreign  worship,  and 
re-consecrated  to  Jupiter  Olympus.  We  gather  that 
the  same  pdict  was  to  be  enforced  also  against  the 
Samaritans  and  their  Temple  at  Gerizim,  and  that 
ApoUonius,  after  desolating  Jerusalem,  went  next 
to  fulfil  his  mission  in  the  northern  capital  of 
Shechem. 

'^The  new  Governor  entered  Jerusalem  peacefully, 
but,  when  once  established,  his  cruel  edict  fell  like  a 
thunderbolt  on  the  nation.  A  terrible  persecution 
followed.  Women  who  had  dared  to  circumcise  their 
children  were  tortured  and  paraded  with  their  mur- 
dered infants  hanging  round  their  necks  ;  aged  elders 
were  put  to  a  cruel  and  lingering  death,  refusing  to 
eat  the  flesh  of  the  unclean  beast.  But  the  stubborn 
spirit  of  the  nation  could  not  be  broken,  though  the 
party  of  the  Hellenisers  was  so  strong  in  the  capital 
that  it  was  impossible  for  the  few  devout  Jews  there 
left  to  do  more  than  meet  martyrdom  courageously. 
The  noble  reply  of  the  aged  Eleazar  when  under 
torture,  shows  the  manner  in  which  Jewish  elders 
refused  even  the  semblance  of  apostacy.  "  It  becometh 
not  our  age,"  he  said, "  in  anywise  to  dissemble,  where- 
by many  young  men  might  think  that  Eleazar,  being 
four-score  years  old  and  ten,  was  now  gone  to  a 
strange  religion." 

The  Greek  policy  triumphed  for  a  moment,  and 
incense  was  burnt  at  pagan  altars  in  the  streets  of 


82  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

Jerusalem.  A  citadel  was  erected  on  the  little  knoll 
of  Millo,  or  Akra,  which  overlooked  the  lower  city. 
It  stood  just  where  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
now  stands,  and  formed  a  stubborn  stronghold,  which 
was  not  overthrown  for  twenty-seven  years.  It  was 
garrisoned  by  Macedonians,  and  by  renegade  Jews 
from  among  the  Hellenisers. 

On  the  15  th  day  of  Cisleu  (December),  in  this 
memorable  year,  the  "abomination  of  desolation" 
was  set  up,  an  idol  altar  standing  upon  the  great 
rude  stone  altar  in  the  Temple  Court.  Ten  days 
later,  sacrifices  of  swine  were  offered  on  it,  and  the 
fane  reared  for  Jehovah  was  declared  consecrated  to 
Jupiter  Olympus.  The  Jewish  ritual  was  abolished, 
and  Greek  rites  substituted  for  it. 

Thus,  in  the  pathetic  language  of  the  Chronicler, 
"  Her  sanctuary  was  laid  waste  like  a  wilderness ; 
her  feasts  were  turned  into  mourning,  her  Sabbaths 
into  reproach,  her  honour  into  contempt.  And  there 
was  very  great  wrath  upon  Israel." 

A  curious  and  instructive  story  is  related  in  the 
Talmud  connected  with  this  profanation  of  the 
Temple.  Miriam,  the  daughter  of  a  priest  of  the 
course  of  Bilgah,  saw  the  altar  with  the  idol  altar 
upon  it,  and  struck  it  with,  her  shoe,  exclaiming, 
"Thou  insatiable  wolf,  how  much  longer  wilt  thou 
consum.e  the  wealth  of  Israel,  when  thou  canst  not 
help  in  time  of  need."     For  this  offence  the  course  of 


Mo  dm.  83 


Bilgah  was  in  later  times  deprived  of  its  appointed 
chamber  in  the  Temple.  The  story  may,  perhaps,  be 
thought  to  indicate  a  sort  of  superstitious  worship  of 
the  altar  itself  among  the  less  educated  Jews  of  the 
time,  resembling  the  Moslem  worship  of  the  two 
sacred  rocks  of  Mecca  and  Jerusalem,  which  are 
regarded  as  possessed  of  supernatural  powers,  and 
even  of  speech. 

Although  it  was  at  Jerusalem  that  the  violent 
decree  of  Antiochus  seems  first  to  have  been  put  in 
force,  it  was  not  there  that  the  desperation  of  the 
Jews  first  lent  them  courage  to  resist.  The  same 
edict  was  sent  out  to  every  town  and  village  in 
the  country.  At  the  capital,  the  Hellenists  were 
probably  in  a  majority,  and  the  few  orthodox  Jews 
on  whom  persecution  fell  were  unable  to  resist ; 
but  the  views  and  habits  of  the  villagers  were,  as  has 
been  shown  in  the  last  chapter,  entirely  different  from 
those  of  the  educated  townsmen.  They  had,  no 
doubt,  adhered  with  much  greater  loyalty  to  the 
ancient  customs  and  beliefs  of  their  forefathers,  and  it 
was  thus  far  more  difficult  to  carry  out  the  resolution 
proposed  by  Antiochus  in  the  wild  rural  districts 
remote  from  the  capital. 

The  ancient  main  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Lydda 
descended  the  stony  hill  of  Bethhoron,  and  ran 
along  a  mountain  spur  towards  the  plain.     About  a 


84  Judas  MaccabcBUS, 

mile  to  the  north  of  this  main  road,  the  little  village 
of  Modin  was  built  upon  the  southern  slopes  of  a 
rocky  valley. 

The  surrounding  country  was  bare  of  trees,  con- 
sisting of  chalky  limestone,  with  terraces  built  against 
the  hill-sides,  and  ancient  sepulchres,  quarries,  and 
reservoirs  cut  in  the  rock.  The  village  lay  below  the 
crest  of  the  hill,  and  had  a  remarkable  rocky  knoll 
immediately  south  of  it— a  conical  hump  on  the  hill- 
side, with  a  few  scattered  olives  on  the  top.  This 
knoll  commanded  a  view  of  the  sea.  The  little  hills 
of  the  Shephelah,  or  "  lowland,"  district  could  be  seen 
stretching  westwards,  covered  with  copse  in  parts,  and 
crowned  here  and  there  with  small  villages.  At  their 
feet,  amid  dark  groves  of  olive,  lay  the  white  town  of 
Lydda,  and  behind  it  the  broad  brown  plain  of 
Sharon  extended  to  a  breadth  of  ten  miles.  Furthest 
of  all,  the  yellow  gleaming  sand-dunes  bounded  the 
rich  arable  land,  and  the  waters  of  the  "  Great  Sea" 
shone  brightly  under  the  afternoon  sun.  The  prospect 
was  extensive,  and  not  devoid  of  interest ;  but  the 
outline  of  the  hills  was  tame,  and  the  absence  of 
forest-trees  combined  with  the  greyness  of  the  rocky 
limestone  on  the  hills  to  give  an  air  of  barrenness  to 
a  country  which  was  really  fertile. 

To  this  little  village,  some  twenty  miles  from  the 
capital,  and  standing  away  from  the  high-road,  an 
aged    priest,    named    Mattathias,    had    retired    from 


The  Five  Brothers,  85 

Jerusalem.  The  Temple  was  desolate,  the  ritual  of  the 
Jewish  temple  service  had  been  forbidden,  and  there 
was  no  longer  any  regular  recurrence  of  those  visits 
which  (as  already  described)  the  orders  of  priests  paid 
twice  a-year  to  the  Holy  City.  Disgusted  with  the 
innovations  of  the  Hellenisers,  Mattathias  retired  into 
the  country  to  mourn  the  fallen  condition  of  the 
chosen  people. 

Mattathias  had  five  sons — all  grown  men — all  of 
whom  were  destined  to  become  famous.  Johanan, 
the  eldest,  was  also  called  Caddis,  "  the  saint ;"  Simon, 
called  Thassi,  the  second,  was  esteemed  the  wisest 
and  most  prudent  of  the  brethren  ;  Judas  Maccabaeus, 
"  the  hammerer,"  was  the  boldest  and  most  skilful  in 
war ;  Eleazar,  the  fourth,  was  called  Avaran  ;  and  the 
crafty  Jonathan,  youngest,  but  perhaps  most  energetic 
of  the  five,  had  already  earned  the  title  Apphus,  or 
"  the  wary."  We  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  the 
young  men  were  remarkable  for  their  personal  beauty; 
for  that  fatal  gift  was,  at  all  events  in  later  times, 
distinctive  of  the  Hasmonean  race,  and  the  last  of  the 
h'ne,  Aristobulus,  was  no  less  famous  for  his  beauty 
than  was  his  unhappy  sister,  Mariamne,  whose  charms 
made  Herod  forget  even  the  fascination  of  Cleopatra 
herself.  The  family  name  of  Hasmonean  was  derived 
from  that  of  Hasmon,  the  great-grandfather  of 
Mattathias,  and  through  him  they  traced  their  descent 
from  the  sons  of  Joarib — the  first  of  the  twenty-four 


86  Jtidas  MaccabcBMS. 

courses  of  priestly  families,  and  thus  to  Eleazar,  the 
son  of  Aaron. 

Mattathias  was  a  man  of  distinction  in  Modin — a 
ruler  and  an  influential  elder.  When,  therefore,  the 
edict  of  Antiochus  was  carried  out  into  the  country, 
and  the  King's  commissioners  came  to  Modin,  their 
first  object  was  to  endeavour  to  persuade,  or  bribe, 
the  leading  family  into  compliance  with  the  rule 
which  directed  that  every  Jew  should  offer  sacrifice  to 
the  heathen  divinities.  Had  they  succeeded  in  gaining 
the  countenance  of  Mattathias,  the  envoys  would 
probably  have  found  it  an  easy  task  to  induce  the 
poor  and  ignorant  villagers  to  follow  his  example. 
But  such  compliance  was  scarcely  to  be  expected 
from  one  who  had  fled  from  Jerusalem  on  account  of 
the  spread  of  heresy  which  he  there  witnessed. 

The  spirit  of  the  old  man  was,  moreover,  roused  by 
the  sight  of  a  renegade  Jew,  whose  fears  had  induced 
him  to  perform  the  sacrifice  required.  The  memory 
of  the  famous  deed  of  the  zealous  Phinehas,  his 
ancestor,  encouraged  Mattathias  to  strike  a  blow  for 
his  religion  and  for  the  covenant  of  his  fathers.  He  ran 
upon  the  apostate,  and  slew  him  on  the  idol  altar, 
which  had  been  raised  in  accordance  with  the  royal 
order — possibly  on  the  knoll  south  of  the  village  ;  and 
he  went  further  yet,  and  slew  the  King's  commis- 
sioner, while  the  Greeks  were  driven  out  of  the  place 
and  the  heathen  altar  demolished. 


The  Revolt  Commenced.  ^y 

Thus  the  first  outbreak  of  the  national  revolt  was 
due  to  the  unpremeditated  act  of  a  single  aged  man. 
A  reaction  of  feeling  followed  imm.ediately,  and  the 
villagers  saw  the  danger  to  which  they  would  be 
exposed  so  soon  as  the  news  reached  Jerusalem,  and 
the  Macedonian  garrison  of  the  fortress  should  be  sent 
to  punish  them.  Hastily  driving  off  their  cattle,  they 
fled  across  the  watershed  to  the  dreary  desert  of 
Bethaven,  above  the  Jordan  valley,  where  they 
endeavoured  to  hide  themselves  in  caves,  subsisting 
,on  the  wild  herbs  of  the  wilderness. 

Such  a  hegira  may  still  be  witnessed  in  unhappy 
Palestine,  when  a  whole  village  marches  off,  with  its 
flocks  and  herds,  to  find  refuge  in  the  waste  lands  from 
the  punishment  which  the  peasants  dread  in  retaliation 
for  the  violent  deed  provoked  by  the  exactions  of 
some  tyrannous  tax-gatherer  or  lawless  soldier. 

The  villagers  of  Modin  formed  a  small  band,  to 
which  the  discontented  and  zealous  quickly  gathered. 
The  Chasidim,  or  Puritans,  were  the  first  to  join,  and 
the  force  of  the  insurgents  augmented  rapidly.  They 
took  courage  at  length  to  undertake  a  guerilla  warfare 
against  the  Greek  Governor  and  against  the  apostate 
villages,  and  were  successful  in  many  night  attacks. 
They  compelled  their  wavering  countrymen  to  adhere 
to  the  Law ;  they  pulled  down  the  idol  altars,  and 
made  the  Jews  who  had  submitted  to  Antiochus 
circumcise  their  children. 


8S  Judas  MaccabcEUS. 

The  party  was  distinguished  at  a  very  early  period 
by  its  strict  orthodoxy,  and  by  its  determination  to 
restore  the  most  archaic  institutions  of  the  national 
religion.  Yet,  curiously  enough,  one  of  the  first  acts 
of  Mattathias  was  a  modification  of  the  Law  of  Moses. 
A  band  of  a  thousand  insurgents  were  attacked  on 
the  Sabbath  day  in  a  cavern,  and  as  they  would  not 
break  the  Sabbath  rest  by  using  their  weapons,  their 
strict  observance  of  the  Law  cost  them  all  their  lives. 

Mattathias,  hearing  of  this  catastrophe,  took  counsel 
with  his  followers,  and  pointed  out  that  unless  some 
modification  of  this  understanding  of  the  Law  were 
made,  the  heathen  would  take  advantage  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  the  devout  Jews  would  in  time  be 
entirely  extirpated.  It  was  therefore  decreed  that 
self-defence  against  Gentiles  was  to  be  held  lawful 
even  on  the  Sabbath.  The  decision  was  sensible,  yet 
it  served  to  show  how  impossible  it  would  be  to 
adhere  to  every  minute  observance  of  a  Law  promul- 
gated at  so  remote  an  age,  and  under  circumstances 
so  different  from  those  of  the  time  of  the  revolt.  The 
alteration  was  more  in  the  spirit  of  the  Hellenists 
than  in  that  of  the  conservative  and  zealous  party  of 
the  Chasidim. 

Thus  for  a  year  the  insurrection  continued  to 
smoulder,  when,  in  167  B.C.,  Mattathias  died,  no  doubt 
from  the  effects  of  the  hardships  and  exertions  which 
the  old  man  had  been  forced  to  undergo  in  the  rough 


Death  of  Mattathias.  89 

life  of  the  desert.  His  address  to  his  sons,  though 
perhaps  not  strictly  historic,  is  illustrative  of  the 
spirit  which  animated  the  Jews.  It  concluded  with 
the  exhortation  to  consider  Simon  as  the  wisest 
counsellor  ;  Judas  as  the  ablest  leader.  "  To  recom- 
pense fully  the  heathen,  and  take  heed  to  the 
commandments  of  the  Law." 

It  was  thus  that,  in  the  year  167  B.C.,  Judas  Macca- 
baeus  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  small,  but  resolute 
and  united  band  of  enthusiasts,  who  were  determined 
not  only  to  resist  the  tyranny  of  Antiochus,  but  to 
free  their  brethren  from  both  the  Greeks  and  the 
Hellenistic  Jews,  and  to  re-establish  the  independence 
of  the  nation. 

The  province  of  Judea  was  an  outlying  part  of  the 
possessions  of  Antiochus,  and  the  revolt,  which  seems 
at  first  to  have  had  the  character  of  a  guerilla  war,  or 
brigandage,  such  as  often  precedes  a  great  national 
struggle,  did  not  raise  any  great  amount  of  alarm 
at  Antioch.  The  Governor  of  Samaria,  ApoUonius— 
to  whom  Judea  had  been  also  assigned  in  168  B.C. 
— collected  the  local  forces  and  advanced  against 
Judas ;  but  he  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  his 
sword  was  ever  after  used  by  Maccabaeus, "  and  there- 
with he  fought  all  his  life  long." 

No  doubt  the  aims  and  views  of  the  party  of  which 
Judas  was  the  head  expanded  with  time  and  with 
success.     The  impetuosity  of  Mattathias  had  forced 


90  Judas  MaccabcEiis, 

them  into  revolt,  and  at  first  they  fought  merely  for 
self-preservation.  They  then  became  emboldened  so 
far  as  to  attack  the  villagers,  and,  a  little  later,  they 
even  ventured  to  oppose  the  Greek  garrison  of  the 
Akra  citadel,  and  the  Samaritan  militia  under  Apol- 
lonius.  But  a  far  graver  danger  was  brought  upon 
them  by  the  defeat  of  Apollonius  ;  for  no  sooner  had 
it  come  to  the  ears  of  the  King  in  Antioch,  than  he 
despatched  his  general,  Seron,  with  an  army  of 
regular  troops,  then  garrisoning  Ccelesyria. 

Seron's  orders  were  yet  more  imperative  and  violent 
than  those  which  Antiochus  had  given  Apollonius. 
The  small  party  of  the  orthodox  was  to  be  annihilated  ; 
the  Jewish  religion  was  to  be  utterly  stamped  out ;  the 
land  was  to  be  colonised  by  strangers,  and  divided  by 
lot  among  them. 

Thus,  in  the  year  i66  B.C.,  the  Greek  army  marched 
down  the  plain  of  Sharon,  and  commenced  its  ascent 
towards  Jerusalem  by  the  main  road  from  Lydda, 
passing  by  Modin,  the  home  of  Judas,  and  advancing 
on  the  steep  ascent  of  Bethhoron,  where,  in  about 
half-a-mile,  the  road  rises  500  feet  to  gain  the  top 
of  a  long,  narrow,  rocky  ridge — a  spur  oi  the  water- 
shed mountains,  flanked  by  deep  and  narrow  ravines. 

Against  this  formidable  force  the  brave  Judas 
advanced  with  a  handful  of  men.  His  zeal  and  fear- 
lessness, his  military  instinct  and  prudence,  were  alike 
evinced  in  this  his  first  regular  battle  ;  and  his  choice 


The  Battle  of  Bethhoron.  91 

of  position,  guarding  the  top  of  this  dangerous  pass, 
showed  qualities  beyond  those  of  a  mere  bandit  chief. 

The  scenery  was  full  of  inspiring  memories,  for  the 
rugged  pass  had  more  than  once  before  been  the  scene 
of  a  Jewish  victory.  Beneath  him,  near  the  line  of 
the  Greek  advance,  Judas  looked  towards  Modin,  his 
home,  where,  even  then,  his  aged  father  lay  buried — ■ 
the  scene  of  the  memorable  episode  which  had  opened 
his  career.  Behind  him,  on  its  stony  knoll,  amid  open 
corn-lands,  was  Gibeon,  and  to  the  south-west  was 
the  broad,  flat  plain,  skirted  by  low  hills,  and  running 
down  by  the  little  village  of  Ajalon.  Thus  it  was 
almost  on  the  very  spot  where  Joshua  had  stood,  when 
he  commanded  the  sun  to  stand  still  until  Israel  was 
avenged  of  his  enemies,  that  Judas  Maccabaeus  now 
awaited  the  new  foes  of  his  country.  In  imagina- 
tion, he  might  already  see  them  rolled  back  from  the 
steep  steel-grey  slope  of  barren  rock,  crowned  by  a 
few  straggling  olives,  dow^n  to  the  white  hills  and 
corn-plains  beneath,  even  as  the  host  of  the  five  kings 
had  been  discomfited  when  overtaken  by  the  great 
hail-storm  on  that  bleak  hill-side. 

His  followers,  however,  looked  down  on  the  Greek 
host,  as  it  advanced  towards  the  foot  of  the  pass,  with 
far  other  feelings.  "  How  shall  we  be  able,"  they  said, 
"  to  fight  against  so  great  a  multitude,  and  so  strong, 
seeing  we  are  ready  to  faint  with  fasting  all  this 
day .?"     But  Judas  was  able  to  infuse  into  them  some- 


92  Judas  MaccabcBUS, 

thing  of  his  own  spirit,  reminding  them  that  they 
fought  for  their  Hves  and  for  the  Law,  and  that 
strength  was  not  to  be  sought  in  numbers,  but  from 
the  God  who  had  given  victory  to  Joshua. 

FaUing  suddenly  on  the  enemy,  with  every  advan- 
tage of  ground,  and  in  country  suited  for  an  irregular 
attack,  Judas  gained  his  first  real  victory  on  the  field 
which  was  destined  to  see  also  his  last  success.  The 
scattered  Greeks  were  pursued  even  further  into  the 
broad  Philistine  plains  than  were  the  Amorites  after 
the  first  battle  of  Bethhoron,  and  the  Greek  generals 
were,  apparently,  convinced  that  the  northern  pass, 
which  could  be  held  by  so  small  a  force,  was  not  the 
best  line  of  advance  on  Jerusalem. 

The  independence  of  the  Jews  was  thus,  for  the 
moment,  secured,  and  Antiochus  was  not  only  shamed 
by  the  defeat  of  his  army,  but  his  treasury  was  also 
impoverished  by  the  loss  of  the  Judean  taxes.  His 
attention  was  thus  turned  to  Parthia,  and  to  the  rich 
temple  of  Nanaea,  the  "  desire  of  women"  (Dan.  xi.  '^y^, 
in  Elymais ;  and  leaving  to  his  generals  the  task  of 
subjugating  the  Jews,  from  whom  he  had  already 
extorted  the  riches  of  the  Jerusalem  temple,  he 
appointed  Lysias  guardian  of  his  boy-heir,  and 
departed,  early  in  165  B.C.,  on  his  last  fatal  campaign. 

Three  new  generals,  Ptolemy,  Nicanor,  and  Gor- 
gias,  were  quickly  despatched  by  Lysias  to  re-conquer 
the  stubborn  corner  of  hill-country  where  Judas  held 


The  Battle  of  Bmmaus,  93 

his  own  :  a  force  of  no  less  than  40,000  footmen 
and  7000  horse  is  said  to  have  been  under  their  com- 
mand. Warned  by  the  fate  of  Seron,  they  did  not 
attempt  to  face  the  difficulties  of  the  Bethhoron  pass, 
but  prepared  to  ascend  by  the  main  road  which  leads 
up  to  Jerusalem  from  the  west,  by  which  means  they 
might  be  able  to  hem  in  the  rebels  between  the 
Greek  army  on  the  south  and  the  Samaritans  on  the 
north. 

The  force  now  sent  against  Judas  appears  to  have 
been  considered  overwhelming ;  and  so  certain  were 
its  leaders  of  success,  that  they  allowed  merchants  to 
follow  the  camp,  who  were  provided  with  gold  and 
silver  to  give  for  the  slaves  they  hoped  to  buy,  and 
with  fetters  to  place  on  their  limbs.  Marching  south- 
wards, along  the  flat  plain  of  Sharon,  they  encamped 
by  the  town  of  Emmaus,  at  the  edge  of  the  hills,  their 
route  being  almost  exactly  that  which  the  English 
afterwards  took  under  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  in  their 
advance  on  Jerusalem  from  Acre. 

But  the  same  spirit  which  had  animated  Judas  at 
Bethhoron  supported  him  even  in  presence  of  this 
mighty  army.  His  second  victory  was  perhaps  the 
most  brilliant  of  all  his  battles ;  and,  from  the 
similarity  of  its  tactics,  it  might  be  called  the  Mac- 
cabsean  Austerlitz. 

Jerusalem  itself  lay  almost  entirely  in  ruins.  The 
fierce    persecution   of  the   fatal   year    168   B.C.   had 


94  Judas  Maccabcsus. 

decimated  its  population.  The  Hellenist  renegades, 
and  the  foreign  mercenaries  who  had  been  introduced 
as  a  garrison  by  Apollonius,  were  shut  up  in  the  tower 
which  stood  on  the  lofty  knoll  of  Millo,  or  Akra.  The 
walls  of  the  city  had  been  pulled  down,  and  the 
desecrated  temple  was  deserted  and  ruinous.  Thus 
it  was  not  in  the  capital  that  the  zealous  devotees 
assembled  for  those  religious  exercises  by  which,  like 
the  Covenanters,  they  prefaced  their  fierce  onslaught 
on  the  heathen.  Reverting  in  memory  to  the  primi- 
tive times  of  Samuel,  they  assembled  in  the  place 
where  he  had  gathered  Israel  before  the  great  victory 
of  Ebenezer,  and  spent  the  day  in  prayer  and  fasting 
at  Mizpeh,  immediately  north  of  the  city,  where 
formerly  the  Tabernacle  had  stood,  and  near  which 
the  Jews  had  encountered  Alexander  the  Great  on 
his  memorable  visit  to  Jerusalem.  Clothed  in  sack- 
cloth and  covered  with  ashes,  they  lamented  the  sins 
of  their  nation,  and  implored  the  Divine  help,  while 
the  flame  of  fanaticism  was  aroused  by  the  exhibition 
of  a  copy  of  the  Sacred  Torah,  which  the  heathen  had 
desecrated  by  paintings  of  their  images. 

As  night  came  on,  the  army  was  arrayed  in  the 
primitive  formation  employed  by  their  forefathers ; 
captains  of  thousands,  of  hundreds,  of  fifties,  and  of 
tens  were  appointed,  and,  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  commands  of  Moses,  the  newly-married  men,  the 
vine-dressers,  and  even  the  timid  and  unwilling,  were 


The  Night- March,  95 

dismissed  from  the  picked  body  which  the  five  famous 
brothers  were  to  lead  against  the  enemy. 

In  all  these  preparations  we  cannot  fail  to  note  an 
intentional  imitation  of  the  actions  of  their  forefathers 
by  the  zealous  and  orthodox  party  of  the  Chasidim. 
The  Divine  favour  was  only  to  be  gained  by  a  strict 
observance  of  the  Divine  ordinances,  as  made  known 
to  Moses  or  Samuel.  As  under  Samuel  the  Israelites 
had  assembled  at  Mizpeh,  so  they  did  now  under 
Judas  ;  and  almost  in  the  steps  of  the  former  host, 
they  now  advanced  on  their  enemies  in  the  low- 
lands. 

A  long  night-march  of  some  twenty  miles  brought 
the  Jews  within  sight  of  the  Greek  host  at  dawn.  By 
that  very  road  by  which  the  traveller  now  generally 
first  approaches  the  Holy  City  they  must  have  come 
down,  crossing  deep  valleys  and  long  ridges  clothed 
with  copse,  emerging  through  the  narrow  pass  now 
called  "The  Gate  of  the  Valley,"  into  the  bare 
chalky  hill  country  which  surrounds  Emmaus,  and 
runs  out  on  the  south  side  of  the  little  plain  of 
Ajalon. 

Arriving  thus  on  the  south  side  of  the  enemy's 
position,  Judas  arrayed  and  exhorted  his  men — "  For 
it  is  better  for  us  to  die  in  battle,"  he  said,  "than  to 
behold  the  calamities  of  our  people  and  our  sanctuary." 
The  vanguard  only  of  the  enemy  had  as  yet  arrived — 
8000  men,  under  Gorgias— and  the  promptitude  of 


96  Judas  MaccabcFUs, 

the  Jewish  attack  indicates  the  military  talent  of  their 
leader,  who  thus  fell  upon  the  enemy  before  his  forces 
were  entirely  concentrated. 

The  news  of  the  gathering  at  Mizpeh  had  already 
been  brought  to  the  Greek  camp  by  some  of  the  Akra 
garrison  ;  and  Gorgias,  hoping  to  surprise  the  Jews 
before  they  expected  him,  had  started  from  his  camp 
with  5000  of  his  best  men,  and,  guided  over  the 
mountains  by  the  "  men  of  the  fortress,"  had  actually 
passed  by  the  Jewish  force,  which  was  descending 
by  the  less  known  southern  road. 

Thus  the  battle  of  Emmaus  may  be  compared  to 
that  of  Austerlitz,  in  which  Napoleon  allowed  the 
greater  part  of  the  Austrian  force  to  advance  on  his 
communications,  and  hurling  his  main  body  against 
the  right  wing  of  the  enemy,  which  was  weakened  by 
the  advance  of  the  left,  cut  the  army  of  Austria  in 
two,  and  defeated  each  half  in  detail.  So  also  Judas 
now  fell,  to  the  sound  of  the  silver  trumpets,  with  his 
whole  force  on  the  3000  Greeks  in  camp,  and  cut  in 
two  the  army  of  Gorgias,  the  left  wing  being  already 
too  far  advanced  into  the  intricate  hill-country  to 
afford  any  assistance  to  the  right.  The  Greeks  in  the 
camp  at  Emmaus  little  suspected  how  close  the  foe 
was  to  them.  They  were  unarmed  and  unmounted. 
The  forces  of  Judas  were  equal  in  numbers,  and 
though  he  had  no  cavalry,  the  nature  of  the  ground 
was  such  as  to  render  the  deficiency  unimportant. 


Defeat  of  Gorgias.  97 

So  soon  as  the  compact  companies  of  the  Jewish 
host  became  visible,  marching  across  the  swelling 
hills  and  dark  against  the  brightening  dawn,  the 
Greeks  armed  hastily,  and  went  out  to  meet  them ; 
but  Judas  had  again  contrived  to  have  the  advantages 
of  higher  ground  and  of  surprise.  The  heathen  were 
thus  soon  discomfited,  driven  into  the  plain,  and 
pursued  for  five  miles  north-west  to  the  strong  fortress 
of  Gezer,  which  stands  on  a  bastion  of  hill  projecting 
into  the  Philistine  plain,  and  which  was  at  that  time 
in  the  power  of  the  Greeks.  The  panic-stricken 
remnant  fled  yet  further  to  the  south  and  west,  to 
Jamnia  and  Ashdod,  on  the  shores  of  the  sea,  twenty 
miles  from  the  battle-field. 

But  Judas  was  too  prudent  a  general  to  allow  his 
forces  to  scatter  in  pursuit,  or  to  become  disorganised 
in  looting  the  abandoned  camp.  "  Be  not  greedy 
of  the  spoils,"  he  said,  "inasmuch  as  there  is  a 
battle  before  us."  His  position  between  the  two 
halves  of  the  enemy  seems  to  have  recalled  to  his 
mind — or  to  that  of  the  chronicler  who  puts  the 
words  in  his  mouth — that  of  Israel  in  the  Red  Sea ; 
and  though  one  wave  had  been  beaten  back,  a  greater 
one  was  now  surging  from  the  rocky  hills,  for  Gorgias 
had  heard  the  din  of  battle,  and  had  seen  the  black 
column  of  smoke  rising  from  the  burning  tents  in  his 
camp  at  Emmaus.  Perceiving  that  some  disaster  had 
occurred  in   rear,  he  now  hastily  retraced  his  steps, 

G 


98  Judas  Alaccabceus. 

and  the  heads  of  his  columns  were  seen  emerging 
from  the  folds  of  the  mountains. 

The  battle  was,  however,  already  won.  At  the 
sight  of  their  strongly-fortified  camp  in  flames,  and  of 
the  Jewish  army  drawn  up  at  the  foot  of  the  hill 
awaiting  their  attack,  a  panic  struck  the  Greeks,  and 
they  fled  without  striking  a  blow. 

The  spoil  of  the  deserted  camp  was  rich  and 
various.  Gold,  silver,  blue  silk,  Tyrian  purple,  and 
other  riches  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  and 
perhaps  the  allotted  portion  of  the  spoil  formed  the 
foundation  of  the  great  wealth  afterwards  possessed 
by  the  Hasmonean  family.  The  return  to  Jerusalem 
after  the  second  victory  was  triumphant  and  joyful ; 
and  among  the  three  "  Battles  of  the  Passes  "  which 
were  fought  during  the  campaign  of  the  years  i66  and 
165  B.C.,  that  of  Emmaus  was  afterwards  considered 
to  have  contributed  most  to  the  deliverance  of  the 
nation. 

The  news  of  this  second  defeat  at  the  second  pass 
leading  to  Jerusalem  reached  Lysias,  who  was  ad- 
vancing with  the  main  body  of  the  Greek  army.  His 
forces  were  swelled  to  60,000  men  by  the  levies  raised 
on  the  march  and  by  the  remnants  of  Seron's  and 
Gorgias'  armies,  with  which  he  formed  a  junction  ; 
but  he  determined  not  again  to  attempt  an  approach 
by  the  western  passes,  but  to  endeavour  to  reach  the 
formidable  stronghold  formed  by  the  natural  rock- 


The  Battle  of  Beth  stir,  99 

wall  of  mountains  round  Jerusalem  by  the  easier 
ascent  on  the  south-west.  Judas,  however,  had  in 
this  contest  the  strategical  advantage  of  interior  lines. 
His  position  was  taken  up  on  the  watershed,  near 
Jerusalem,  from  which  point  the  roads  to  the  various 
passes  radiated.  Thus  he  could  never  be  surprised, 
and  was  able  to  confront  the  foe  after  a  short  march, 
and  to  choose  his  ground,  while  the  enemy  wandered 
round  him  in  the  plains. 

Lysias  would  appear  to  have  advanced  by  the 
broad  and  open  valley  of  Elah,  the  scene  of  so  many 
conflicts  between  the  Philistines  and  Israel  under 
Saul  and  David.  Ascending  by  the  road  which  leads 
by  Hareth,  the  Greeks  gained  the  watershed  just 
south  of  Bethsur,  some  twelve  miles  from  the  capital, 
on  the  way  to  Hebron.  The  shed  is  lowest  at  this 
point,  and  a  narrow  pass  leads  by  a  beautiful  spring, 
under  the  rocky  scarp  where  Bethsur  then  stood, 
west  of  the  road,  while  to  the  east  a  rounded  hill 
rises  above  a  low  cliff  towards  the  mountain  village 
of  Halhul.  This  pass  forms  a  position  not  easily 
turned,  and  it  was  here  that  the  indefatigable  Judas 
had  posted  himself,  barring  the  main  road  along  the 
watershed  to  Jerusalem. 

It  was  no  longer  a  small  band  that  the  patriot 
mustered.  The  victory  of  Bethhoron  gave  him  an 
army ;  the  more  brilliant  offensive  action  at  Emmaus 
swelled  that  army  to  10,000  men.     The  Jews  began 


loo  yudas  MaccabcBMS, 

to  understand  that  a  great  deliverer  had  arisen,  and 
they  flocked  to  the  camp  of  Judas. 

As  the  scenery  of  Bethhoron  had  recalled  the 
remembrance  of  Joshua  to  Judas'  mind — as  the 
position  of  his  army  between  the  two  Greek  hosts  at 
Emmaus  reminded  him  of  Israel  in  the  Red  Sea — so 
now,  as  he  looked  down  on  the  rugged  hills  covered 
by  the  copses  of  Hareth  to  the  great  valley  of  Elah, 
where  Adullam  and  Shochoh  had  once  barred  the 
way  against  Philistine  invasion,  the  memory  of  the 
shepherd  king  who  had  defended  the  mountains  of 
Judah  in  this  same  district  seems  to  have  risen 
to  his  thoughts,  and  the  very  scene  of  the  old  battle 
with  the  giant,  which  was  spread  beneath  him,  gave 
good  augury  for  his  impending  conflict  with  the  giant 
host  of  the  Greeks. 

''Blessed  art  thou,  O  Saviour  of  Israel!"  were  the 
words  of  his  prayer,  "  who  didst  quell  the  violence  of 
the  mighty  man  by  the  hand  of  thy  servant  David," 

An  attack  followed,  in  which  the  Jews  again  had 
the  advantage  of  the  higher  ground.  The  confidence 
inspired  by  former  victory  outweighed  the  inferiority 
in  numbers.  The  army  of  Lysias  was  defeated  and 
dispersed,  and  that  general  fled  to  Antioch  to  gather 
fresh  forces  for  a  yet  more  formidable  attack. 

By  these  three  famous  victories  at  Bethhoron, 
Emmaus,  'and  Bethsur,  Judas  accomplished  the 
liberation  of  his  countrymen  from  the  yoke  of  the 


The  Ruins  of  Jerusalem. 


Seleucidae.  For  the  next  two  years  he  was  left  undis- 
turbed, and  even  ventured  on  expeditions  which  seem 
to  have  .  had  for  an  object  the  restoration  of  the 
kingdom  as  it  had  been  under  Solomon.  The  Greeks 
found  themselves  in  presence  of  a  far  more  serious 
task  than  they  had  expected,  and  it  was  no  longer 
a  question  of  crushing  a  small  body  of  disaffected 
zealots,  but  of  the  re-conquest  of  the  whole  block  of 
the  Judean  hills.  At  each  of  the  three  main  passes, 
the  generals  of  Antiochus  had  been  repulsed  with 
loss,  and  a  regular  campaign  was  necessary,  for  which 
preparations  were  now  made  at  Antioch. 

The  first  thought  of  Judas,  after  these  signal 
successes,  was  the  re-establishment  of  the  national 
religion  and  the  purification  of  the  Temple.  From 
the  field  of  battle  the  host  marched  to  ruined 
Jerusalem.  It  was  winter.  The  Sanctuary  was 
desolate ;  the  rampart  walls  which  Solomon  had 
raised  from  the  rock,  and  which  Nehemiah  had 
rudely  restored,  were  half  overthrown,  and  in  places 
the  great  stones  were  cracked  and  blackened  by  fire. 
The  broad  area  within  was  covered  with  thistles,  and 
the  wild  plants,  just  sprouting  rankly  after  the  first 
rains  of  winter,  had  forced  their  way  between  the 
flagstones  of  the  inner  cloisters.  The  wild  olives  and 
other  shrubs  had  straggled  over  the  outer  court ;  the 
chambers  round  the  platform  were  torn  down  ;  the 
gates  were  burnt ;  the  long  creepers  hung  down  from 


102  Judas  Maccabcsus. 

the  walls.  We  can  almost  picture  to  the  eye  the 
desolation  of  the  Holy  House  by  a  comparison  with 
the  present  condition  of  parts  of  the  Temple  area. 

The  passionate  outburst  of  grief  with  which  the 
liberators  looked  on  the  desolation  of  their  Temple, 
evidences  the  national  pride  in,  and  affection  for,  a 
building  that  was  not  only  the  centre  of  that  faith 
which  formed  the  mainspring  of  their  existence,  but 
was  also  their  one  architectural  triumph,  and  their 
ideal  of  all  that  was  grand  and  beautiful  in  art. 

Another  eyesore  in  the  scene  was  the  dark  tower 
on  Millo,  which  overtopped  the  Temple  ramparts,  and 
formed  the  stronghold  of  renegades  and  oppressors. 
A  body  of  troops  from  Judas'  army  was  detached  to 
invest  this  castle ;  for,  though  successful  in  the  field, 
the  Jewish  leader  appears  to  have  had  no  engines  or 
other  requisites  for  conducting  an  attack  on  a  regular 
fortress,  and  he  contented  himself  with  surrounding  it, 
as  a  precaution  against  an  unexpected  sally. 

The  purification  of  the  Temple  was  at  once  com- 
menced. Priests  of  orthodox  faith,  untainted  by  any 
suspicion  of  Hellenistic  heresy,  were  chosen  to  restore 
and  cleanse  the  inner  courts.  The  chambers  were 
built  up,  the  gates  re-hung,  and  the  desecrated  altar 
on  which  swine  had  been  sacrificed,  and  which  a 
woman  had  struck  in  contempt,  was  pulled  down. 
Stones  for  the  new  altar  were  sought  in  the  valley 
of  the  Kedron,  and  dug  out  from  red  virgin  earth, 


The  Desecrated  Altar.  103 

without  the  use  of  iron.  They  were  arranged  in  a 
wooden  frame,  and  cemented  together  with  mortar. 
The  hollow  horns  were  fashioned  on  wooden  moulds, 
and,  the  framework  being  removed,  the  rude  concrete 
structure  was  whitewashed  all  over. 

It  was  not  easy  to  deal  with  the  stones  of  the 
old  altar.  Though  no  longer  fit  for  the  service  of 
God,  they  had,  nevertheless,  been  at  one  time  con- 
secrated, and  it  seemed  doubtful  to  the  scrupulous 
Purists,  who  now  led  the  nation,  whether  it  would  be 
right  to  cast  them  out  into  a  profane  place.  For  such 
a  predicament  no  precedent  or  direction  could  be 
found  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  it  appeared,  therefore, 
to  be  a  question  which  could  only  be  settled  by  the 
authority  of  a  divinely-commissioned  messenger — of 
such  a  prophet  as  was  expected  shortly  to  appear. 
They,  therefore,  laid  up  the  stones  in  a  chamber  at 
the  north-west  corner  of  the  altar  court,  in  the  great 
gate-house  called  Moked,  there  to  remain  until  a 
prophet  should  arise  to  show  what  should  be  done 
with  them.  In  that  chamber  they  remained  until  the 
time  of  Christ,  and  until  the  Holy  House  had  been 
once  more  overthrown,  once  more  restored  and 
beautified,  and  yet  again  levelled  to  the  ground.  The 
Prophet  with  the  required  authority  was  never  recog- 
nised, and  the  stones  of  the  desecrated  altar  were 
finally  scattered,  no  man  knows  where. 

The  25th   day  of  Cisleu   was   appointed   for   the 


104  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

solemn  re-consecration  of  the  Sanctuary.  It  was  a 
memorable  anniversary.  On  that  day  the  Angel  had 
been  seen  by  David  standing  on  the  hill-top  by  the 
rocky  platform  of  Araunah's  threshing-floor.  On  the 
same  day,  only  three  years  before,  the  heathen  had 
sacrificed  swine  on  their  idol  altar.  Thus  it  was  an 
appropriate  day  on  which  to  celebrate  the  restoration 
of  the  purity  of  Judaism  and  the  defeat  of  the 
uncircumcised. 

New  veils  had  been  made  for  the  Temple,  new 
tables  of  shewbread,  and  a  new  candlestick  and 
incense  altar.  The  vessels  were  all  new,  replacing 
those  stolen  by  Antiochus,  and  crowns  and  shields  of 
gold  were  hung  in  front  of  the  Temple  fagade.  So, 
with  feasts  and  sacrifices,  with  psalms  and  music,  with 
processions  of  priests  bearing  palm-branches,  and 
with  every  expression  of  festivity,  the  dedication  was 
celebrated  for  eight  days.  In  memory  of  the  event, 
a  yearly  "Feast  of  Lights"  was  ordained,  and  palm- 
branches  were  borne  as  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles. 

Once  more  the  solemn  service  of  the  Temple,  so 
graphically,  described  in  the  Mishna,  was  restored. 
In  the  darkness  of  the  early  morning,  the  master  of 
the  Temple  came  at  an  uncertain  hour  to  summon 
the  priests  who  watched  round  the  fire  in  the  gate- 
house of  Moked.  In  the  dusk  they  went  out  and 
fetched  the  lamb  which  had  been  pronounced  spotless 
on  the  previous  day.      Standing  without  the   altar 


The  Daily  Service,  105 

court,  they  watched  the  first  streak  of  day  spreading 
behind  the  black  outHne  of  OHvet,  and  over  the  steel- 
grey  ridges  of  Moab,  until  the  brightness  had  crept 
round  southwards  as  far  as  the  direction  of  Hebron. 
Then  the  appointed  priest  went  in  first,  and  in  the 
dim  light  he  bathed  at  the  great  laver,  and  his  figure 
could  be  discerned  mounting  the  long  slope  of  the 
altar,  until,  from  under  the  heavy,  grey  ashes,  the 
red  glow  of  the  never-extinguished  fire  was  stirred  up, 
and  the  column  of  smoke  was  thickened  by  new  fuel. 
Then,  and  not  till  then,  the  other  priests  ventured 
into  the  Sacred  Court ;  and  as  daylight  brightened 
and  the  city  awoke,  the  early  sacrifice  was  offered, 
and  the  daily  service  of  the  Temple  proceeded  in  its 
appointed  order. 


T 


CHAPTER     IV. 

THE    VICTORIES    OF    JUDAS. 
164  B.C. 

HERE  are  few  characters  in  history  which  can 
rank  with  Judas  Maccabaeus  for  purity  of  motive 
and  unselfish  patriotism.  His  whole  life  was  passed 
in  struggles  for  freedom,  and  in  fighting  the  battles 
of  his  country ;  but  his  personal  ambition  was  never 
gratified  by  any  dignity  bestowed  on  him.  Jonathan, 
his  brother,  became  High  Priest  in  153  B.C.;  but  for 
Judas  no  such  reward  was  in  store,  and  he  was 
content  to  remain  the  military  chief  and  political 
leader,  without  title,  and  without  formal  recognition. 

The  position  which  he  wished  to  hold  in  the  eyes 
of  his  countrymen  was  no  doubt  that  of  a  "  deliverer" 
— a  sui:cessor  of  the  many  famous  judges  who  had 
arisen  in  the  old  days,  such  as  Gideon,  Samson,  or 
Joshua.  He  had  raised  himself  to  his  position  as 
leader  of  the  liberating  party  by  the  force  of  his  own 
character,*  and  he  now  maintained  his  reputation  by 
the  wisdom  with  which  he  ruled. 


''Messiah  Malhainah!'  107 

The  Hasmonean  family  belonged  to  the  course  of 
Joarib,  but  though  of  the  sons  of  Aaron,  they  had  no 
claim  by  blood  to  the  office  of  High  Priest.  Judas 
made  no  attempt  to  alter  the  succession,  or  to  usurp 
the  dignity  of  the  then  living  Pontiff.  The  miserable 
Onias  was  allowed  to  retain  his  nominal  authority ; 
but  his  name  does  not  appear  often  in  the  history  of 
this  period,  and,  suspected  as  he  was  of  the  most 
latitudinarian  views,  he  no  doubt  found  it  best  to 
remain  as  quiet  as  possible,  leaving  the  practical 
duties  of  his  office  to  the  liberators. 

The  kingly  dignity  might  also  have  been  thought 
tempting  to  the  Maccabsean  ambition,  but  the  family 
could  not  claim  descent  from  David,  and  the  whole 
spirit  of  the  revolt  seems  to  have  been  rather  in 
imitation  of  the  primitive  period  of  Samuel  than  of 
the  later  history  of  the  Jewish  monarchy.  The  pro- 
phecies, if  understood  to  refer  to  a  restoration  of  the 
temporal  rule  of  a  successor  to  David,  must  evidently 
have  indicated  that  such  a  ruler  would  be  of  the 
House  of  David  ;  but,  as  far  as  we  can  gather  from 
the  Book  of  Maccabees,  the  popular  expectation  was 
directed,  as  has  already  been  explained,  towards  the 
appearance  of  a  new  prophet  rather  than  to  the 
re-establishment  of  independent  native  royalty. 

The  position  actually  held  by  Judas  seems  to  have 
been  that  of  Messiah  Malhamah,  or  "the  Anointed 
for   War,"    an   ancient    office    appointed    by    Moses 


io8  Judas  MaccabcBUS, 

(Deut.  XX.  2) ;  the  priest  on  whom  it  was  conferred 
being  in  fact  just  what  Judas  became — the  acting 
High  Priest,  accompanying  the  army  in  order  to 
exhort  the  troops  on  the  eve  of  battle. 

The  Jews,  in  the  time  subsequent  to  the  first  estab- 
lishment of  the  kingdom,  recognised  two  Messiahs,  or 
"anointed"  leaders:  the  first  was  the  High  Priest, 
christened  with  the  holy  oil  with  which  Aaron  had 
first  been  consecrated ;  the  second  was  the  Messiah 
Negedy  or  "  Anointed  Chief,"  of  whom  Saul  was  the 
first.  It  was  not  until  after  the  death  of  Judas  that 
the  Hasmoneans  introduced  an  innovation  into  the 
Jewish  constitution,  by  uniting  the  two  offices  in  one, 
and  the  first  and  greatest  of  the  brethren  contented 
himself  with  the  humbler  position  of  Messiah  Mai- 
hamah^  or  War-deputy  to  the  High  Priest  Onias. 

The  small  extent  of  territory  which  had  been 
recovered  is  not  at  first  easily  appreciated,  The 
lands  of  Judea  were  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Samaria,  on  the  east  by  Moab,  on  the  west  by  the 
Philistines,  and  on  the  south  by  Edom ;  the  area 
included  was  little  over  1000  square  miles — one-sixth 
of  Palestine  as  conquered  by  Joshua — and  was  thus 
scarcely  larger  than  the  county  of  Surrey.  On  the 
south  the  fortress  of  Bethsura  was  built  by  the  Jews 
as  a  frontier  castle,  guarding  the  approach  to  the 
Holy  City  from  Hebron  and  from  the  southern 
deserts ;  and  Bethsura  was  only  about  twelve  miles 


Frontiers  of  Judea.  109 

from  Jerusalem.  On  the  north  the  main  road  from 
Samaria  was  protected  by  the  town  of  Bethel,  and 
the  line  which  ascended  from  the  plain  of  Capharsaba 
was  blocked  by  the  castle  of  Thamnatha,  standing  at 
the  head  of  a  rugged  ravine  some  seventeen  miles 
north-west  of  the  capital.  Bethhoron  and  Emmaus 
were  also  frontier  towns,  and  on  the  east  Jericho  was 
the  furthest  inhabited  place.  Such  were  the  limits  of 
the  little  state  which  Judas  had  created  ;  they  coincided 
almost  exactly  with  those  of  the  Christian  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem  under  its  latest  kings  ;  for  the  boundaries 
were  natural,  and  the  steep  rampart  of  hills,  which 
surrounds  the  narrow  plateau  on  which  Jerusalem 
stands,  formed  an  efficient  barrier  against  the  incur- 
sions of  the  nomadic  inhabitants  of  the  plains,  both 
in  the  days  of  Judas  and  in  the  times  of  Godfrey. 
Whenever  the  leaders  of  Israel  went  forth  from  their 
rocky  fastnesses,  it  was  to  fight  their  way  inch  by 
inch,  and,  like  the  Christian  expeditions  against  Moab 
or  Ascalon,  the  wars  of  Judas,  after  the  successful 
revolt  of  165  B.C.,  were  only  rapid  raids  which  had 
no  permanent  effect  in  increasing  the  amount  of  the 
Judean  territory. 

The  capital  of  Judea  was  as  small  as  the  territory 
belonging  to  it.  The  Jerusalem  of  the  Hasmoneans 
was  not  larger  than  is  the  modern  town,  and  the 
walls  built  by  Solomon  probably  enclosed  the  same 
area  of  about  200  acres. 


no  yudas  MaccabcEus. 

Nor  was  the  city  one  to  be  coveted  as  a  natural 
capital  to  a  great  kingdom.  Its  position,  shut  in  at 
the  back  of  the  Judean  watershed,  while  affording  it 
security,  and  thus  making  it  the  centre  of  the  national 
faith,  was  at  the  same  time  unfavourable  to  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  this 
natural  isolation  of  the  religious  capital,  we  find,  no 
doubt,  one  of  the  main  causes  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Jewish  religion  unaffected  by  the  heathenism  of 
the  surrounding  nations  ;  but  we  also  see  in  it  the 
reason  why  Jerusalem  has  never  been,  nor  is  ever 
likely  to  become,  a  large  city.  The  Jerusalem  of 
Nehemiah  or  of  the  Hasmoneans  was  barely  two  and 
a-half  miles  round  ;  and  of  its  area,  the  Temple,  with 
its  courts,  occupied  a  sixth  part. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  give  a  short  sketch 
of  the  main  features  of  the  city,  which  we  gather  from 
the  accounts  in  the  book  of  Maccabees  and  from 
Josephus. 

The  site  of  Jerusalem  is  too  well  known  to  require 
lengthy  description.  It  consists  of  the  spurs  which 
run  out  south-east  from  a  flat  watershed,  and  which 
are  bounded  by  two  valleys — -one  running  southwards, 
the  second,  to  the  west  of  it,  running  at  first  parallel, 
then  turning  eastwards,  and  thus  enclosing  the  site  of 
the  town  in  a  rude  parallelogram,  which  is  defended 
by  nature  on  all  sides  but  the  north-west. 

The  eastern  valley  is  called  Kedron  in  the  Bible, 


y  ertisalem.  \  1 1 


while  the  southern  is  the  Ravine  of  Hinnom.  Both 
valleys  are  deep  and  narrow,  with  precipices  of  ruddy 
rock  in  places,  and  at  their  junction  they  are  about 
500  feet  below  the  tops  of  the  hills  they  enclose. 
'^  The  ground  within  the  boundary  valleys  was 
further  divided  by  a  broad  and  flat-bottomed  depres- 
sion, afterwards  called  the  Tyropoeon,  which  divided 
the  site  in  two.  To  the  east  was  the  long  tongue  of 
land  which,  running  out  of  the  watershed,  formed  the 
sloping  ridge  of  Moriah,  and  terminated  in  the  narrow 
spur  of  Ophel,  enclosed  between  the  Tyropoeon  on 
the  west  and  the  Kedron  on  the  east. 

On  the  west  of  the  Tyropoeon  a  second  spur  ran 
out  to  a  narrow  neck  of  high  ground  between  the 
head  of  that  valley  and  the  top  of  the  western 
boundary,  or  Valley  of  Hinnom.  From  this  isthmus 
the  ridge  again  swelled  out  into  the  high,  broad  hill 
almost  isolated  by  the  deep  natural  trenches  which 
surrounded  it,  forming  the  strongest  part  of  the  town 
— the  upper  city. 

A  narrow  ravine,  which  had  its  head  north  of  the 
city,  joined  the  Tyropoeon  just  where  it  swept  round 
southwards  below  Moriah.  This  ravine,  afterwards 
filled  up,  bounded  on  the  east  the  little  knoll  of  rock 
which  stood  immediately  north  of  the  large  hill  of  the 
upper  city — a  knoll  higher  than  the  crest  of  Moriah, 
but  commanded  by  the  mountain  south  of  it.  The 
head  of  the  Tyropoeon  was  so  broad  that  it  formed  a 


112  Judas  Maccabcp.tis. 

hollow  theatre  between  the  knoll  of  Millo  and  the 
upper  city,  and  the  houses  which  were  built  on  the 
northern  slope,  and  near  the  isthmus  joining  the  upper 
city  to  the  watershed,  were  arranged  in  a  crescent- 
shape,  and  rose  terrace  above  terrace  opposite  those 
on  the  southern  hill. 

The  water  -  supply  of  the  city  was  extremely 
deficient.  The  great  reservoirs  of  the  Temple 
enclosure  were  probably  already  in  existence,  but 
several  of  the  pools  now  found  (especially  to  the  west) 
date  much  later  than  Jewish  times.  Jerusalem  could 
boast  of  only  one  spring — on  the  east — and  that  was 
outside  the  walls  of  the  town.  In  this  deficiency  of 
water-supply  we  find  another  great  drawback,  which 
prevents  us  from  regarding  Jerusalem  as  the  natural 
capital  of  Palestine.  Shechem,  with  its  beautiful 
gardens  and  its  abundant  springs,  being  in  a  central 
position  and  easily  accessible,  is  more  likely  than  is 
Jerusalem  to  be  in  the  future  the  political  centre  of 
the  country. 

The  eastern  ridge  of  Moriah  was  enclosed  by  the 
great  fortress  walls  of  Solomon,  rising  to  a  height  of 
150  feet  of  solid  masonry;  the  stones  of  megalithic 
size,  and  ornamented  with  the  broad  draft  distinctive 
of  Phoenician  work.  The  area  within — partly  rock, 
partly  of  earth  banked  up — was  perhaps  planted  as  it 
is  now,  and  on  the  highest  part  of  the  ridge  a  plat- 
form was  erected,  ascended  by  steps,  and  surrounded 


The    Temple,  1 1 3 


by  little  chambers,  with  doors  leading  to  the  lower 
level  without.  A  second  platform,  rather  lower, 
existed  on  the  east.  The  first  was  the  sacred  Altar 
Court,  only  entered  by  the  priests  ;  the  second  was  the 
place  of  worship  for  the  whole  of  the  congregation. 
In  the  Altar  Court  the  rude  pile  of  unhewn  stones, 
whitewashed  and  cemented,  was  the  principal  object, 
and  the  impression  conveyed  by  the  very  primitive 
character  of  the  altar  is,  that  the  buildings  of  the 
Temple  could  not  have  been  very  magnificent  in 
appearance,  or  solid  in  construction.  The  square 
block  of  masonry  which  is  described  as  constituting 
the  Holy  House  can  hardly  fail  to  have  had  a  heavy 
appearance,  and  we  have  no  authority  for  supposing 
that  this  was  relieved  by  beautiful  architectural 
details,  or  by  any  ornamentation  other  than  the  golden 
shields  and  crowns  which  were  hung  on  its  walls. 

Beneath  the  western  wall  of  the  sanctuary,  down 
in  the  valley,  was  the  Xystus,  or  gymnasium,  of  which 
we  have  no  description,  but  which  was  probably 
designed  in  imitation  of  a  Greek  building  of  the  kind. 
North  of  the  Temple  was  a  scarped  rock,  rising  some 
forty  feet  above  the  court,  and  on  this  stood  the  tower 
called  Baris,  which  the  Hasmoneans  built  as  a  pro- 
tection to  the  Holy  House,  commanding  the  strong- 
hold of  the  Greeks  on  Akra,  or  Millo.  This  tower 
was  the  predecessor  of  the  famous  citadel  of  Antonia, 
which  so  long  baffled  the  Roman  besiegers. 

H 


114  yudas  MaccabcBMs. 

The  only  other  prominent  pubHc  building  was  the 
stronghold  on  Akra,  just  mentioned.  From  it  the 
foreign  mercenaries  were  able  to  look  into  the  Temple 
area,  and  the  height  of  the  knoll  on  which  it  stood 
was  considered  so  great  a  danger,  that  it  was  after- 
wards cut  down,  as  will  be  seen  later. 

Such  were  the  principal  points  in  the  view.  The 
Temple  fortress  on  a  narrow  ridge,  with  the  heavy 
central  building  and  the  gleaming  altar ;  to  the  north, 
the  scarped  rock  of  Baris ;  to  the  west,  the  knoll  of 
Akra,  with  its  tower.  The  houses  rose  tier  above 
tier  from  the  low  ground  towards  the  knoll,  and  the 
whole  of  the  broad,  flat,  southern  hill  was  built  over, 
while  the  steep  slopes  to  the  east  of  it  were  probably 
covered  also  with  houses. 

The  city  wall  curved  round  from  Baris  to  the  west, 
and  included  the  Akra  knoll.  It  was  the  old  line  by 
which  Solomon  and  later  kings  had  connected  the 
upper  city  with  the  Temple  area,  and  which  Nehemiah 
had  repaired.  In  the  south-west  corner  of  the  upper 
city  was  a  rocky  scarp  and  outer  trench.  Thence  the 
wall  ran  east  above  Siloam,  and,  crossing  the  Tyro- 
poeon,  extended  to  Ophel — the  quarter  of  the  priests. 
Here,  by  the  Watergate,  was  the  curious  rock-shaft 
down  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  in  the  time  of 
siege,  could  descend  unseen  to  the  subterranean  source 
of  Gihon,  the  one  spring  of  Jerusalem.  From  Gihon 
also  the  rock-cut  aqueduct  of  Hezekiah  was  tunnelled 


The  Sumzy  Mountain.  115 

through  the  Ophel  hill  to  the  rock  reservoir  of 
Siloam. 

Between  the  Watergate  and  the  south-east  corner 
of  the  Temple  rampart,  the  foundation  of  the  great 
wall  of  the  city  still  remains.  It  is  probably  the  work 
of  Nehemiah,  and  its  hasty  construction  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  not  founded  on  rock,  but  merely 
on  the  soil  above. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  city  thus  described 
cannot  have  been  imposing.  The  ordinary  dwellings 
were  probably  of  stone,  built  in  the  same  rude  manner 
now  common  in  the  country.  The  Jewish  ideas  of 
symmetry  seem  always  to  have  been  very  imperfect. 
Even  the  splendid  Temple  rampart  is  so  irregularly 
built  that  its  walls  are  not  at  right  angles  to  one 
another,  and  the  same  defect  is  observable  in  the 
majority  of  native  buildings  of  every  age  in  Palestine. 

The  surrounding  site  was  rocky  and  treeless,  for 
the  "mountains  of  Sion"  no  doubt  presented  at  every 
historic  period  that  aspect  of  sterility  which  originally 
caused  them  to  receive  the  name  Sion,  or  "sunny;" 
and  the  modern  traveller  who  sees  the  city  spread  on 
the  white  chalk  hills,  under  the  full  glare  of  the  mid- 
day sun,  can  well  appreciate  the  appropriateness  of 
the  old  Hebrew  title. 

But  if  the  capital  of  Judea  could  not  compare  with 
Athens  or  with  Rome,  it  must  be  remembered  that  its 
architecture  was  expressive  of  a  much  more  primitive 


ii6  Judas  MaccabcEUs, 

condition  of  civilisation.  We  are  dealing  with  a 
people  who  were  still  content  with  a  patriarchal 
government,  and  with  a  pastoral  and  agricultural 
life ;  who  were  almost  entirely  uneducated,  and  who 
had  neither  sciences  nor  arts.  We  cannot  draw  a 
true  parallel  between  Judas  Maccabaeus  and  any  of 
the  great  heroes  of  heathenism,  any  more  than  we  can 
fairly  compare  ancient  Jerusalem  with  any  of  the 
great  capitals  of  the  Old  World.  The  history  and 
results  of  the  Hasmonean  struggle  are  not,  however, 
less  interesting  because  connected  with  a  less  civilised 
condition  of  society ;  for  the  true  appreciation  of  the 
influence  of  Jewish  institutions  on  mankind  is  not 
impaired  by  forming  a  correct  estimate  of  their  archaic 
character. 

A  real  parallel  may  be  drawn  between  the  Has- 
moneans  and  the  great  native  families  of  Palestine, 
which  have  now  been  almost  entirely  extinguished 
by  Turkish  persecution.  Thus,  for  instance,  in  Galilee 
the  great  family  of  Zeidan  gained  power  about  the 
commencement  of  the  i8th  century;  Dhahr  el  'Amr, 
grandson  of  Zeidan,  threw  off  the  Egyptian  yoke  and 
refused  to  pay  tribute.  He  became  virtually  King  of 
Galilee.  His  eight  sons  were  governors  under  him  of 
eight  districts,  including  Upper  and  Lower  Galilee,  with 
a  total  of.  162  villages.  The  strongest  positions  were 
fortified  with  walls  and  round  towers,  and,  as  the 
country  within  these  frontiers  was  at  peace,  mosques 


A  Historic  Parallel,  117 

and  palaces,  aqueducts  and  mills,  were  erected  all 
over  the  land,  which,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
flourished  under  its  native  chiefs,  until,  at  the  age  of 
ninety,  the  national  hero  was  cruelly  executed  by 
Jezzar  Pacha. 

The  history  of  the  Hasmoneans  was  very  much  the 
same.  Gaining  power  over  a  weak  foreign  govern- 
ment, they  threw  off  the  yoke  and  refused  to  pay 
tribute.  Strengthening  their  borders  with  frontier 
fortresses,  they  obtained  interior  peace  and  tran- 
quillity, and  the  Temple  and  walls  of  Jerusalem  were 
raised  again.  But,  like  the  Zeidaniyin,  the  Has- 
moneans were  destined  to  final  overthrow ;  their  hero 
was  slain,  and  their  family  was  gradually  exterminated 
by  foreign  rulers. 

The  year  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  was,  how- 
ever, a  time  of  constant  success  for  Judas  Maccabseus. 
In  the  spring  of  164  B.C.  he  made  four  long  and 
successful  expeditions,  and  in  the  same  year  the  great 
enemy  of  the  Jews,  Antiochus,  "  the  frantic,"  died.  The 
history  of  these  events  may  now  be  resumed  in  order. 

The  first  expedition  made  by  Judas  beyond  the 
bounds  of  Judea  was  towards  the  South.  The  great 
wave  of  nomadic  invasion,  which  was  always  surging 
against  the  high  hills  held  by  the  Jews,  could  only  be 
restrained  and  forced  back  in  times  of  peace,  when 
the  mountaineers  were  strong  and  prosperous.  So 
far  had  the  southern  Arabs  advanced,  that  Bethsura 


ii8  Judas  Maccabceus. 

was  now  the  limit  of  Idumea,  and  the  Hebron  hills 
were  no  longer  reckoned  as  belonging  to  Israel.  The 
"  sons  of  Bean,"  who  were  descendants  of  Esau,  had 
harassed  the  border  villages  during  the  period  of 
anarchy,  which  dated  from  the  accession  of  the  im- 
politic Antiochus  Epiphanes.  Against  these  brigands 
Judas  waged  war,  and  succeeded  in  driving  them 
back  even  to  the  southern  limit  of  the  territory  given 
to  the  tribe  of  Judah  by  Joshua. 

Boldly  marching  down  along  the  watershed,  and 
over  the  downs  where  David  had  wandered  round 
Ziph  and  Carmel  when  hiding  from  Saul,  Judas  and 
his  army  entered  the  great  chalky  desert  which  runs 
out  eastwards  from  Beersheba  to  the  desolate  pre- 
cipices above  the  Dead  Sea. 

The  land  descends  in  sudden  steps  southwards 
towards  Sinai  and  Petra ;  and  at  the  south  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea,  above  the  dreary  salt  marsh  and  the  steep 
salt  mountain,  the  rugged  pass  of  Akrabbim  leads  up 
to  the  highest  plateau,  fifty  miles  from  Jerusalem. 
Akrabbim,  "the  scorpion  pass,"  was  on  the  old 
boundary  of  Judah,  and  it  was  here  that  the  sons  of 
Esau  had  gathered  a  host.  The  trogloditic  Horites 
from  the  caverns  of  Petra,  the  sons  of  Bean  from  the 
flint  castles  in  the  deserts  of  Rehoboth,  and  all  the 
nomadic  ancestors  of  the  modern  Arabs,  had  collected 
together  for  their  summer  incursion  into  the  corn- 
fields and  vineyards  of  the  hill  country. 


The  Battle  of  Akt^abbim.  119 

Judas  fell  upon  them  suddenly,  and  defeated  them, 
driving  them  back  to  the  fastnesses  of  Mount  Hor, 
and  shutting  them  up  in  the  desert  fortresses.  His 
expedition  may  be  compared  with  that  so  adven- 
turously carried  out  by  Baldwin  the  First,  brother  of 
Godfrey,  who,  descending  by  almost  the  same  route, 
in  the  early  part  of  his  reign,  passed  the  salt  mountain 
and  fought  his  way  to  Petra  and  Mount  Hor.  But, 
like  the  later  expedition,  that  of  Judas  was  merely 
a  raid,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Idumeans  was  only 
sufficient  to  give  temporary  security  to  the  outlying 
villages  south  of  the  fortress  of  Bethsura,  which  was 
the  real  limit  of  the  Jewish  kingdom. 

It  is  not  clear  from  the  existing  accounts  whether 
Judas  crossed  the  valley  south  of  the  Dead  Sea  and 
passed  over  to  the  east  side,  or  whether  his  attack  on 
the  children  of  Ammon  was  made  from  the  plains  of 
Jericho ;  but  the  second  appears  to  have  been  the 
most  likely,  because  the  less  difficult  operation. 
Whichever  route  he  chose,  he  next  entered  the 
highlands  north  of  Heshbon,  and  penetrated  to  the 
edge  of  the  great  oak  forest  of  Mount  Gilead.  Here 
he  encountered  the  Ammonites  under  their  chief, 
Timotheus,  and  defeated  them  in  many  battles,  or 
skirmishes  ;  finally,  he  attacked  and  overthrew  the 
town  of  Jazer,  standing  on  the  border  ravine  of  the 
old  territory  of  Gad,  forty  miles  from  Jerusalem, 
whither  Judas  returned  in  triumph  afterwards. 


I20  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

The  power  of  the  Greeks  in  Syria  was  now  virtually 
at  an  end  for  the  time  being,  and  the  anarchy 
resulting  from  the  misgovernment  and  disasters  of 
Antiochus  had  unsettled  all  the  wild  lands  surround- 
ing Judea.  Thus,  no  sooner  had  Judas  retired  to 
Jerusalem,  than  tidings  of  troubles  came  to  him 
simultaneously  from  the  east,  the  north,  and  the  west. 
The  Jews  of  Mount  Gilead  were  flying  to  the  fortress 
of  Dathema,  or  Dametha  :  the  Galilean  Jews  were 
invaded  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  by  the  foreign 
inhabitants  of  Accho,  Tyre,  and  Galilee ;  while  the 
troubles  which,  from  time  immemorial,  had  afflicted 
the  border-lands  between  Israel  and  the  Philistines, 
also  demanded  attention. 

Judas  decided  to  undertake  the  most  difficult 
expedition  himself,  and,  accompanied  by  Jonathan, 
his  youngest  brother,  he  marched  towards  Mount 
Gilead  with  8000  men,  while  Simon,  his  elder  brother, 
was  sent  towards  Galilee  with  3000.  At  Jerusalem 
two  chiefs  were  appointed,  named  Joseph  ben  Zacha- 
rias  and  Azarias,  who  were  strictly  enjoined  by 
Judas,  and  by  the  council  which  was  held  to 
determine  what  should  be  done  to  help  the  unfortunate 
Jews  beyond  Jordan,  to  remain  on  the  defensive,  and 
to  attempt  no  expedition  with  the  weak  reserve  left 
in  Judea ;  for  the  whole  of  the  army  which  had  won 
the  victory  of  Bethsura  was  now  to  be  employed  in 
the  two  expeditions  undertaken. 


The  Expedition  to  B 02 rah,  121 

It  was  no  trifling  enterprise  on  which  Judas 
embarked.  To  carry  his  army  over  the  scorching 
plains  of  Jericho,  descending  4000  feet  from  Jerusalem 
by  a  rugged  mountain-path  ;  to  ford  the  rapid  stream 
of  Jordan  ;  to  climb  the  stony  mountains  of  Gilead — 
rising  yet  higher  east  of  the  Jordan  valley — were 
laborious  tasks  ;  but  even  after  the  river  was  passed, 
and  the  plateau  above  the  passes  reached,  yet  greater 
difficulties  had  to  be  faced.  Judas  had  to  lead  his 
men  forward  through  a  hostile  and  unknown  land, 
providing  them  with  food  as  best  he  could,  and  dis- 
covering the  rare  springs  along  his  line  of  advance. 
No  regular  base  existed  for  his  flying  column,  and  no 
stores  were  carried  forward  to  the  front.  It  is 
surprising  to  read  how  far  he  penetrated  into  the 
interior  of  the  eastern  desert,  and  over  how  large  an 
area  his  conquests  in  one  short  campaign  extended. 

A  bloody  vengeance  had  been  taken  by  the 
Ammonites  and  Amorites  on  the  Jews  inhabiting 
their  country,  in  retaliation  for  the  defeat  which  Judas 
had  so  recently  inflicted  on  them  near  Jazer.  A 
thousand  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Tob  had  been  put 
to  death ;  their  wives  and  children  were  captives  ;  and 
Dametha  was  besieged  by  the  same  Timotheus  whom 
Judas  had  defeated. 

The  advance  of  the  relieving  force  was  directed 
towards  the  broad  plains  of  Bashan,  which  had  been 
entirely  overrun  by  the  foreigners :  cities  inhabited  by 


122  yudas  MaccabcEtcs. 

the  Jews,  even  as  far  as  the  famous  Ashtoreth  Car- 
naim,  east  of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  were  either  already 
taken  or  in  danger.  Bozrah  was  besieged,  as  well  as 
Alema,  Bosor,  Casphor,  and  Maked,  strong  places, 
the  very  names  of  which  have  now  perished. 

Our  difficulties  in  correctly  following  out  the 
campaign  are  greatly  increased  by  the  imperfect 
information  which  we  possess  as  to  the  position  of 
the  various  places  mentioned.  West  of  Jordan  the 
topography  is  clear  enough ;  but  the  maps  of  the 
country  to  the  east  are  mere  sketches,  and  have  been 
made  in  hasty  journeys  by  travellers  ignorant,  as  a 
rule,  of  the  Bedawi  language.  Nor  can  we  hope  to 
recover  the  ancient  names  as  completely  as  in 
Western  Palestine — even  if  the  country  be  at  some 
future  period  more  perfectly  explored — because  the 
eastern  Arabs  do  not  preserve  the  old  Hebrew  titles 
with  the  tenacity  of  the  peasantry  west  of  Jordan. 
We  must  be  content,  therefore,  with  tracing  the 
outline  merely  of  Judas'  adventurous  wanderings. 

The  Jewish  army  crossed  Jordan,  and  marched  for 
three  days  into  the  wilderness — a  distance  of  probably 
not  less  than  seventy  miles  from  Jerusalem.  They 
then  encountered  a  friendly  tribe  of  Nabatheans,  from 
whom  they  learned  the  peril  of  the  Jews  in  Bozrah, 
and  Judas  determined  to  advance  to  the  relief  of  this 
town,  which  stands  on  the  high  road  to  Euphrates, 
sixty  miles  east  of  Jordan,  at  the  point  where  the 


The  Relief  of  Dametha,  123 

eastern  highway  is  crossed  by  the  road  which  runs 
south  from  Damascus  to  Heshbon  and  Moab.  This 
famous  city  Judas  actually  reached  by  a  forced  march 
of  100  miles  from  Jerusalem,  and,  imitating  the 
example  of  Joshua,  he  killed  all  the  males  and  burnt 
the  town.  This  feat  may  be  compared  with  the 
adventurous  expedition  in  which  young  Baldwin  the 
Third  won  his  spurs,  before  he  became  King  of 
Jerusalem,  when  he  advanced  almost  in  the  steps  of 
Judas  as  far  as  Bozrah. 

From  Bozrah  it  appears  to  have  been  a  night's 
march  to  Dametha,  the  last  stronghold  of  the  Jews  ; 
and  as  Judas'  subsequent  march  led  him  northwards, 
it  is  not  impossible  that  the  place  intended  is  the 
present  Dameh,  in  the  middle  of  the  dreary  Lejja 
district,  near  the  oak  forests  and  extinct  volcanoes 
which  exist  some  thirty  miles  north  of  Bozrah.  This 
district  has,  in  late  times,  proved  a  refuge  for  the 
Druses  when  revolting  from  the  Turks,  and  the 
inaccessibility  of  the  position  must  always  have  made 
it  a  strong  place. 

On  this  subject  it  is  not,  however,  possible  to  speak 
with  any  certainty ;  and  the  position  of  the  Mizpeh 
immediately  afterwards  taken,  as  well  as  of  Casphor, 
Maked,  Bosor,  and  Malle,  which  all  fell  before  Judas, 
is  also  unknown.  They  appear  to  have  been  situated 
very  far  east,  but  Malle  and  Casphor  are  placed  by 
Josephus  in  Mount  Gilead. 


124  Judas  MaccabcBMs, 

Timotheus,  the  Ammonite,  was  besieging  Dametha, 
and  in  the  early  morning  the  Jewish  force  arrived,  and 
saw  tlie  host  of  the  heathen  advancing  against  the 
walls  with  battering-rams  and  ladders.  The  trumpets 
of  the  relieving  force  sounded,  and  the  astonished 
Ammonites  found  themselves  hemmed  in  between 
Judas  and  the  garrison  of  Dametha  just  at  the 
moment  when  victory  seemed  certain,  and  when,  no 
doubt,  they  supposed  the  army  of  Maccabseus  to  be 
resting  in  Jerusalem  after  the  late  campaign  in 
Moab :  such  was  the  masterly  generalship  of  Judas, 
who,  by  some  five  days'  forced  marching,  had  reached 
the  beleaguered  town  just  in  time  to  save  it. 

Timotheus  and  his  army  fled  before  the  three 
companies,  which  charged  with  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  and  which  "cried  with  prayer."  Eight 
thousand  Ammonites  were  slain,  and  the  surrounding 
district  was  subjugated.  Thus  Judas  had  successfully 
imitated  and  even  surpassed  the  prowess  of  Saul  in 
his  expedition  to  the  relief  of  Jabesh  Gilead,  when 
besieged  by  the  Ammonite  Nahash. 

Encouraged  by  success,  Judas  determined  to  pursue 
his  enemy  Timotheus  yet  further  north,  and  he 
advanced  against  the  host  which  was  gathered  round 
the  city  of  Raphana,  afterwards  famous  as  belonging 
to  the  Decapolis,  but  the  site  of  which  is,  unfortu- 
nately, unknown.  The  hordes  of  the  Eastern  Arabs 
had  been  induced,  by  the  hope  of  plundering  the 


Defeat  of  the  Ammonites,  125 

Jews  settled  in  the  cities  of  Bashan,  to  join  the 
Ammonites,  and  the  immense  host  was  drawn  up 
behind  a  .torrent-bed,  or  gorge,  which  formed  a  natural 
rampart.  This  line  the  heathen  endeavoured  to 
defend,  hoping  to  overawe  Judas  by  their  formidable 
numbers,  and  by  the  strength  of  their  position. 
When  the  valley  had  been  forced  by  the  Jewish  army, 
rendered  confident  by  the  uninterrupted  success  of 
three  years  of  continual  fighting,  the  last  hopes  of 
Timotheus  were  destroyed.  He  fled  still  further 
northwards  to  Ashtoreth  Carnaim,  and  sought  refuge 
in  the  famous  temple  of  the  two-horned  Queen  of 
Heaven.  The  whole  army  of  Judas  hurried  on  in 
pursuit ;  for  the  scribes,  or  subordinate  officers,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  arrange  the  proportions  of  combatants 
and  non-combatants  in  the  Jewish  army  (Deut.  xx.), 
had  received  orders  from  Judas  that  not  a  man  was 
to  remain  in  camp. 

The  first  attack  being  thus  promptly  followed  up, 
Ashtoreth  Carnaim  was  taken  without  a  siege,  and 
Timotheus  appears  to  have  perished  in  the  flames 
of  the  idol  temple. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  Judas  displayed,  during 
this  great  campaign,  a  very  high  degree  of  military 
talent.  It  is  true  that  he  had  not  to  contend  with 
trained  soldiers  such  as  the  generals  of  Antiochus 
could  bring  against  him  ;  but  the  art  of  successfully 
conducting  a  long  advance  through  a  country  infested 


126  yudas  Maccabcsus. 

by  bands  of  guerillas  has  always  held  a  high  position 
in  military  science.  Ashtoreth  Carnaim  was  150 
miles  from  Jerusalem,  and  the  distance  alone  made 
the  campaign  arduous.  The  rapidity  of  the  marches, 
the  fearlessness  of  the  attacks,  and  the  sudden  over- 
throw of  the  cities,  take  us  back  to  the  first  days 
of  the  invasion  of  Palestine  by  Joshua,  when  the 
enthusiasm  and  zeal  of  the  fierce  Israelite  hosts 
had  not  been  damped  by  defeat  nor  cooled  by 
time. 

Judas,  however,  knew  well  that  no  permanent 
results  could  be  expected  from  his  brilliant  raid,  and 
that  a  terrible  vengeance  would  be  wreaked  on  his 
fellow-countrymen,  if  left  in  Bashan,  after  his  return. 
Warned  by  the  tragedy  of  the  land  of  Tob,  the 
eastern  Jews  prepared  for  a  general  emigration,  and, 
guarded  by  the  Hasmonean  army,  they  set  out, 
with  their  wives,  children,  and  household  possessions, 
to  go  to  Judea. 

The  route  lay  south-west,  towards  Jordan,  over  the 
plateau  of  Golan,  and  was  not  free  from  danger.  On 
the  road  stood  the  fortress  of  Ephron,  past  which  they 
were  obliged  to  march.  The  inhabitants  closed  the 
gates,  and  barricaded  them  with  stones,  refusing 
admission,  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  peaceable 
demands  of  Judas  that  his  host  should  be  allowed  to 
pass  through  the  city  on  foot.  No  doubt  the  scarcity 
of  water  was  the  main  reason  why  another  route  was 


The  Return  to  yerusakm.  127 

not  taken,  for  it  seems  curious  that  a  single  town 
should  bar  the  entire  line  of  retreat. 

The  churlish  townsmen,  however,  trusted  in  vain  to 
the  strength  of  their  walls.  The  host  halted,  and  the 
baggage  was  laid  down  ;  the  fighting  men  advanced, 
and,  after  assaulting  the  city  for  a  whole  day,  the 
Jews  took  it  and  put  its  inhabitants  to  the  sword. 
Over  the  dead  bodies  of  the  enemy  they  marched 
straight  through  the  city,  and,  descending  by  the 
deep  white  gorge  of  the  Hieromax  river,  past 
black  precipices  which  hem  in  Jordan,  they  reached 
the  bank  of  the  river  in  the  part  where,  north 
of  Bethshean,  it  flows  through  a  broad  flat  plain — a 
rapid  but  tortuous  stream.  Here,  by  the  great  ford 
of  Abarah,  or  by  some  of  the  numerous  passages, 
rather  lower  down,  by  which  the  Sukr  Arabs  now 
yearly  cross  the  Jordan,  the  mixed  host  gained  the 
western  banks,  and  thence,  as  soon  as  the  rear-guard 
and  the  stragglers  had  been  collected,  they  marched 
down  the  great  valley  and  ascended  to  the  hills  of 
Jerusalem  with  songs  and  rejoicings.  Arriving  at 
the  Holy  City,  they  offered  sacrifices  in  token  of  their 
gratitude  for  deliverance  from  the  heathen,  and  for 
their  safe  journey  to  Jerusalem. 

Meanwhile,  Simon,  with  his  3000  men,  had  been 
scarcely  less  successful  in  Galilee  than  Judas  had 
been  in  Gilead  and  Bashan.  The  Phoenicians  from 
Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Accho — or,  as  it  was  then  called, 


128  Judas  Maccahceus, 

Ptolemais — had  been  repulsed,  the  captive  Jews  had 
been  released,  and  the  invaders  were  in  turn  shut  up 
in  the  maritime  towns,  while  3000  of  the  enemy  are 
said  to  have  been  slain.    . 

A  second  emigration  also  took  place  from  Galilee, 
where  the  Jews  appear  to  have  had  no  more  secure 
a  footing  than  in  Peraea.  The  security  of  the  little 
Judean  kingdom,  guarded  by  its  frontier  fortresses 
and  ruled  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  heroic  Judas, 
offered  an  inducement  to  all  the  scattered  Israelites 
to  flock  round  Jerusalem.  Thus  from  Galilee  and 
Arbattis  a  host  accompanied  Simon  on  his  return 
southwards.  The  latter  district  is  not  known  with 
certainty ;  but  it  is  possible  that  under  the  name  of 
Arbattis  was  included  the  territory  of  Issachar  and 
the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  above  which,  on  the 
south-east,  stood  the  old  city  of  Rabbith,  represented 
by  the  modern  village  of  Raba,  on  the  high  saddle 
south  of  Gilboa. 

Fortune  favoured  the  Hasmonean  brothers  not  only 
in  the  field,  but,  during  their  absence,  in  Jerusalem. 
Azarias  and  Joseph  ben  Zacharias  had  been  ordered 
to  remain  quietly  at  home,  but  their  ambition  sug- 
gested to  them  the  idea  of  supplanting  the  absent 
heroes  in  the  popular  favour  by  brilliant  victories  won 
nearer  home.  "  Let  us  also  get  us  a  name,"  they  said, 
"and  go  fight  against  the  heathen  that  are  round 
about  us."    In  an  evil  moment,  they  rashly  undertook 


Defeat  at  Jamnia.  129 

an  enterprise  which  Judas  would  have  shunned.  In 
his  conflicts  with  the  trained  soldiery  of  the  Greek 
generals,  he  had  always  relied  on  strong  defensive 
positions,  and  had  never  ventured  to  oppose  them  in 
the  open  ground. 

The  new  leaders  were  destitute  of  the  military 
genius  and  cautiousness  of  Judas,  and  advanced  boldly 
against  Gorgias,  the  general  defeated  at  Emmaus, 
who  was  now  entrenched  in  Jamnia,  a  town  standing 
in  a  naturally  strong  position  on  a  round  hill  almost 
isolated,  which  rises  above  the  valley  of  Sorek,  just 
where  the  yellow  sand-dunes  begin  to  encroach  on 
the  broad  corn-lands  of  Philistia. 

Gorgias  sallied  out  from  this  stronghold,  and  swept 
down  the  hill  on  the  Jewish  force  in  the  low  ground. 
A  rout  resulted,  and  2000  Israelites  were  slain,  the 
remainder  being  pursued  across  the  plain  into  the 
hills  of  Judea. 

This  defeat  was,  for  Judas,  perhaps  the  most  fortu- 
nate circumstance  in  his  career.  The  expedition  had 
been  undertaken  in  direct  contradiction  to  his  prudent 
counsel ;  and  the  success  with  which  he  had  opposed 
the  Greeks,  acting  on  the  defensive,  at  the  mountain 
passes,  when  contrasted  with  the  defeat  in  a  rash 
attempt  to  meet  them  on  equal  terms,  showed  how 
well  he  understood  the  true  tactics  for  a  Jewish  army. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  returning  in  triumph  from 
a  long  offensive  campaign,  in  which  (as  the  historian 
I 


130  yudas  MaccabcBUS. 

affirms)  he  had  not  lost  a  man.  It  was  noted  that 
the  defeat  at  Jamnia  was  due  to  disobedience  of  his 
commands.  "  Moreover,  these  men  (Azarias  and 
Joseph)  came  not  of  the  seed  of  those  by  whose  hand 
dehverance  was  given  to  Israel."  The  power  of  the 
Hasmoneans  was  by  this  one  incident  consolidated 
for  more  than  a  century. 

The  energy  of  Judas  would  not  suffer  him  to  rest 
long.  His  forces  were  swelled  by  the  Jews  of  Peraea 
and  Galilee,  and  he  once  more  took  the  field  against 
the  Idumeans,  endeavouring  to  redeem  the  Hebron 
mountains  and  the  rich  Shephelah  plains,  which  might 
now  be  so  advantageously  colonised  by  the  emigrants 
collected  at  Jerusalem. 

Hebron,  the  most  ancient  city  of  Judea,  fell  before 
this  second  Joshua,  and  its  fortress  walls  were  pulled 
down.  Thus  the  rich  vine  country  and  the  beautiful 
springs  of  that  high  district  were  conquered. 

From  Hebron  the  ever-victorious  host  descended  to 
the  rolling  hills  and  fat  corn  valleys  of  the  Shephelah, 
and  attacked  and  took  Mareshah,  a  city  on  the  edge 
of  the  Philistine  plain,  which  was  reckoned  as  within 
the  bounds  of  Idumea.  By  this  conquest  the  district 
round  AduUam  was  reclaimed — the  rich  valley  of 
Elah  and  the  olive  groves  of  Beth-Gubrin,  the  old 
city  of  the  Horites.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  the 
more  adventurous  spirits  of  the  army  were  with 
difficulty  restrained  by  their  wary  general ;  for  certain 


Ashdod  Btcrnt.  131 


priests,  venturing  from  the  safety  of  the  hills,  were 
slain  in  the  open  country.  But  even  in  the  plains  the 
good  fortune  of  Judas  was  the  same.  He  did  not 
indeed  venture  to  attack  Gorgias  in  Jamnia,  but  he 
reached  Ashdod,  lying  south  of  it,  and  fifteen  miles 
from  the  foot  of  the  hills.  In  one  rapid  march  he 
came  down  on  the  famous  town  which  stands  by  the 
sand  hills,  in  an  open  plain  surrounded  with  palms. 
The  temple  of  Dagon  was  levelled  with  the  ground, 
the  carved  images  of  the  fish-god  were  burnt,  and  the 
Jewish  expedition  had  effected  a  retreat  to  the 
mountain  fastnesses,  before  the  Greek  general,  only 
nine  miles  away,  could  cut  them  off.  The  return 
march  to  Jerusalem  was  interrupted  by  the  Sabbath, 
and  the  army  rested  for  that  day  in  the  valley  of 
Elah,  at  the  famous  stronghold  of  Adullam. 

At  this  same  time  Antiochus  Epiphanes  died.  His 
expedition  against  the  temple  of  Nanaea  in  Elam  had 
been  unsuccessful ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  place 
defeated  him,  and  the  shrine  of  Artemis,  with  all  its 
riches,  escaped  the  fate  of  the  Temple  of  Jehovah. 
The  defeated  tyrant  retired  to  Babylon,  and  thence  to 
Taboe,  in  Persia.  He  was  soon  after  afflicted  with  an 
incurable  disease,  and  his  latter  days  were  embittered 
by  the  continual  reports  of  Judean  victories,  and  of 
the  extension  and  consolidation  of  the  Hasmonean 
power.  He  came  to  his  end,  and  there  was  "none 
to  help  him."     The  heathen   saw  in  his   death  the 


132  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

vengeance  of  Diana,  and  the  Jew  attributed  it  to  the 
Divine  wrath  of  Jehovah,  because  of  the  many  miseries 
which  Antiochus  had  inflicted  on  the  chosen  race. 

Judas  had  now  attained  the  summit  of  his  power. 
It  is  true  that,  while  much  had  been  done  in  those 
four  years  which  had  passed  since  Mattathias,  his 
father,  died,  much  remained  to  be  done,  but  Judas 
was  not  himself  destined  to  see  his  hopes  completely 
realised.  The  independence  of  the  Jews  was  an 
accomplished  fact,  but  not  yet  recognised  by  the  great 
rulers  of  the  world,  the  kings  of  Egypt  and  Syria. 
The  Hellenistic  heresy  was  not  yet  rooted  out,  for 
the  miserable  Onias  was  still  High  Priest,  while 
the  Macedonian  garrison  still  held  the  castle  on 
Akra.  No  settled  form  of  government  had  been 
established,  for  the  Prophet  divinely  commissioned  to 
dictate  new  ordinances  had  not  appeared.  The 
Samaritans  were  still  flourishing,  and  the  rival  temple 
on  Gerizim  was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen,  not 
inferior  to  the  Jerusalem  sanctuary.  Judas  had  never 
ventured  to  attack  these  enemies  of  his  countrymen 
in  the  strong  mountains  which  surround  Shechem, 
and  it  was  not  until  another  thirty-five  years  had 
elapsed  that  this  final  triumph  was  attained  by  his 
nephew. 

But  though  all  this  was  still  to  be  done,  the  amount 
achieved  was  not  less  important.  Real  freedom  was 
attained,  the  temple  service  was  re-established,  the 


The  Situation  Reviewed.  133 

law  of  Moses  was  observed,  and  the  Jew  could 
circumcise  his  children,  and  study  the  Torah  as  his 
conscience  commanded,  without  fear  of  cruel  persecu- 
tion. Peace  and  security  existed  within  the  borders 
of  Judea,  and  from  this  centre  the  future  state  was 
destined  to  grow  steadily  larger.  The  insolence  of 
the  Idumean  nomads  and  of  the  Ammonites  and 
Eastern  Arabs  had  been  repressed  by  the  brilliant 
successes  of  the  Hasmoneans  in  the  south,  north,  east, 
and  west. 

A  strong  nucleus  had  been  formed  in  the  hills 
round  Jerusalem  by  the  gathering  in  of  the  scattered 
Israelites  of  Galilee  and  Peraea,  and  the  vitality  of 
the  new  kingdom  and  of  the  reformed  religion  was 
superabundant. 

Finally,  the  power  of  Judas  himself  had,  in  this  one 
year,  been  immensely  increased.  His  military  genius 
and  good  fortune,  his  prudence  and  wisdom,  had  been 
alike  placed  beyond  dispute,  while  the  purity  of  his 
motives  and  the  soundness  of  his  faith  were  generally 
recognised.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  darling  of  the 
people — the  national  hero  in  whose  life  the  prosperity 
of  Israel  was  bound  up — the  appointed  instrument 
through  whom  deliverance  was  given  by  the  Most 
Hish. 


CHAPTER    V. 

DEFEATS   AND   DEATH   OF  JUDAS. 
163-161   B.C. 

IT  is  sad  that  the  sequel  to  the  history  of  the 
patriotic  Maccabaeus  should  be  a  story  of  mis- 
fortune and  untimely  death,  and  that  the  brilliant 
successes  just  described  should  have  been  followed  by 
a  series  of  defeats. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  being  dead,  Lysias,  the 
actual  guardian  of  the  heir-apparent,  and  protector  of 
the  realm,  proclaimed  the  boy  Antiochus  Eupator, 
who  was  only  nine  years  of  age  ;  and  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  163  B.C.  he  advanced  with  a  force  of  100,000 
foot  and  20,000  cavalry  to  the  relief  of  the  garrison  in 
Jerusalem,  which  had  succeeded  in  sending  a  messenger 
to  report  that  they  were  closely  invested  by  the  Jews 
under  the  Hasmoneans. 

It  was  a  Sabbatic  year,  and  offensive  warfare  and 
tillage  were  alike  unlawful  to  the  Jews.  The  Greek 
advance  appears  to  have  been  very  rapid,  and  Beth- 
sura  on   the  watershed   had   been   already   invested 


Beth-Zacharias.  \  3  5 


before  Judas,  raising  the  siege  of  the  Akra  citadel, 
advanced  to  meet  Lysias. 

The  ppsition  which  he  chose  was  one  which  again 
gave  evidence  of  his  mihtary  capacity.  It  was  indeed 
the  last  natural  line  of  defence  south  of  Jerusalem, 
but  it  was  one  which  could  neither  be  outflanked  nor 
masked,  but  which  must  be  attacked  and  won  before 
any  advance  could  be  made. 

About  nine  miles  south  of  the  Holy  City  the 
watershed  of  the  country  becomes  very  narrow,  and 
a  high  ridge,  rising  to  more  than  3000  feet  above  the 
sea,  commands  a  good  view  on  the  north,  east,  and 
west.  The  main  road  from  Hebron  creeps  along  the 
eastern  side  of  this  mountain,  and  runs  above  a  pre- 
cipitous valley,  being  thus  carried  through  a  dangerous 
defile  commanded  by  the  hill.  Immediately  north 
of  this  pass  is  the  open  dell  in  which  are  the 
great  reservoirs  vulgarly  called  Solomon's  Pools. 
Here  also  is  the  spring  of  Etam,  where  were  Solomon's 
gardens,  and  whence,  in  later  times,  Pilate's  great 
aqueduct  brought  water  to  the  Temple.  Under  the 
brow  of  the  high  ridge  above  mentioned  there  are 
other  clear  springs,  and  the  field  of  battle  was  thus 
well  supplied  with  water  on  the  side  of  the  defence. 

Looking  down  from  the  ridge  towards  the  sea, 
a  deep  and  narrow  valley  is  seen  sinking  suddenly, 
the  head  formed  by  an  intricate  network  of  small 
ravines,  which  seam  the  sides  of  the  great  hill-spurs 


136  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

running  out  westwards.  Two  other  main  roads, 
from  the  plains,  pass  beneath  the  brow  of  the 
mountain,  on  the  west  and  north-west.  The  first, 
from.  Beth-Gubrin  and  Adullam,  ascends  to  Gibeah 
of  Judah,  and  thus  to  the  ruins  of  Beth-Zacharias, 
which  stand  at  the  southern  end  of  the  high  ridge. 
The  second  runs  along  the  northern  side  of  the  valley 
of  Elah,  descending  westwards,  by  the  rock  Etam, 
towards  Shochoh  and  Beth-Shemesh.  By  either  of 
these  routes  an  enemy  might  have  advanced  on 
Jerusalem,  and  the  position  taken  up  by  Judas  com- 
manded both,  as  well  as  the  southern  watershed 
road  from  Hebron,  by  which  Lysias  was  actually 
advancing. 

The  sides  of  the  mountain  were  steep  and  rugged  ; 
the  top  was  barren,  and  gleamed  with  a  cap  of  white 
chalky  soil.  On  the  west,  a  low  belt  of  precipice  ran 
along  the  ridge  near  the  summit,  but  on  the  north,  in 
rear,  the  ground  was  more  open  than  in  front. 

From  this  mountain  summit,  now  only  known  by 
the  modern  name  of  Ras  Sherifeh,  "  the  high  hill-top," 
a  view  could  be  obtained  embracing  many  a  famous 
scene  of  Jewish  history.  On  the  north,  the  Holy  City 
itself  was  visible,  and  Bethlehem,  the  home  of  David, 
standing  among  its  olive  groves,  and  vineyards.  On 
the  west,  the  eye  ranged  over  the  dusky  rolling 
ridges  which  stretch  towards  the  Shephelah  and  the 
plains  of  Philistia.     The  rock  of  Samson's  Etam,  a 


The  Elephants.  137 


barren  stony  knoll,  was  a  conspicuous  feature,  and 
the  white  cliff  of  Gath  was  dimly  visible  on  the  edge 
of  the  Philistine  plain. 

Turning  eastwards,  the  valley  of  the  other  Etam, 
with  rugged  cliffs  and  terraces  of  rock,  formed  the 
foreground.  The  white  peaks  and  sharp  ridges  of  the 
desert  round  Tekoa  were  visible  behind,  and,  furthest 
of  all,  the  blue  wall  of  the  Moab  mountains  closed 
the  view. 

Such  was  the  battle-field  selected  by  Judas.  But 
although  he  showed  his  usual  skill  in  the  choice  of  a 
defensive  position,  he  had  to  contend  with  more 
formidable  foes  than  any  he  had  before  encountered. 
Lysias  seems  to  have  appreciated  the  strength  of  his 
enemy,  and  to  have  spared  nothing  which  could 
ensure  success.  His  army  was  nearly  twice  as  large 
as  that  defeated  at  Bethsura  two  years  before,  and  a 
new  and  terrible  feature  was  added  in  the  thirty-two 
elephants  which  accompanied  the  forces. 

Surprise  is  the  essence  of  success  in  war.  Whether 
it  be  the  novel  invention  of  a  needle-gun,  or  the  use 
of  a  sling,  campaigns  have  been  won  again  and  again 
by  the  introduction  of  a  new  weapon  or  an  unexpected 
method  of  attack.  The  Jews  had  withstood  the  Greek 
infantry ;  they  had  even  found  courage  to  oppose 
horsemen  when  fighting  in  a  country  unfit  for  cavalry  ; 
but  the  soldiers  of  Judas  had  probably  never  before 
seen  an  elephant. 


138  Judas  MaccabcBiis. 

The  unwieldy  animals  had  been  brought  up  even 
to  the  hill-tops,  and  were  marching  along  the  rocky- 
paths  in  single  file.  On  the  back  of  each  was  a 
wooden  tower,  whence  the  archers  sent  a  continual 
shower  of  arrows,  and  a  regiment  of  1000  footmen 
with  a  squadron  of  500  horse  accompanied  each 
elephant.  The  Jews  saw  with  astonishment  the 
docility  of  the  beasts,  governed  each  by  a  single 
negro,  and  a  report  spread  that  they  had  been  rendered 
furious  by  the  sight  of  "the  blood  of  grapes  and 
mulberries,"  in  anticipation  of  the  battle. 

Bethsura  had  been  closely  invested,  and  the  main 
body  of  the  army  advanced  to  assault  the  position  at 
Beth-Zacharias.  The  elephants  and  their  attendant 
forces  marched  by  the  main  road,  which  lay  down  a 
flat  open  valley  towards  the  narrow  pass  already 
noticed ;  but  Lysias  had  taken  the  precaution  of 
scouring  the  hills  on  either  side  of  the  road,  well 
knowing  that  a  sudden  flank  attack  might  be  expected 
from  a  general  of  Judas'  genius. 

A  glorious  and  formidable  spectacle  was  presented 
by  the  great  army,  as  it  marched  on.  The  sun  shone 
on  the  brazen  helmets,  the  mail  coats,  the  shields  of 
gold.  The  noise  of  the  tread  of  the  footmen,  the 
rattling  of  the  harness,  the  trumpeting  of  the  elephants, 
and  the  shouts  of  the  whole  host  were  re-echoed  by 
the  surrounding  hills,  and  struck  terror  into  the  hearts 
of  the  Jews.     In  vain  did  Judas  encourage  his  men 


Death  of  Eleazar,  139 

to  attack  the  vanguard.  In  vain  did  his  heroic 
brother,  Eleazar,  sacrifice  his  life  to  show  how  easily 
the  elephants  might  be  defeated.  Choosing  out  the 
leader,  whose  rich  trappings  suggested  that  some 
person  of  importance — perhaps  the  King  Antiochus 
himself — might  be  concealed  in  the  tower,  Eleazar 
transfixed  it  with  his  weapon,  and  perished  beneath 
the  huge  animal  as  it  fell.  He  won  for  himself 
"a  perpetual  name;"  but  the  Jewish  army  was  dis- 
comfited, and  Judas  retired  to  Jerusalem,  and  prepared 
to  stand  a  siege. 

The  Greeks,  who,  for  five  years,  had  failed  to  pene- 
trate into  the  hills  of  Jerusalem,  at  length  invested 
the  capital.  Bethsura  fell  almost  immediately  after 
the  battle  of  Beth-Zacharias,  its  inhabitants  having 
been  unable,  in  consequence  of  the  Sabbatic  year, 
to  re-provision  the  place.  With  a  moderation  which 
contrasts  with  the  fierce  intolerance  of  the  Jews  when 
victorious,  Antiochus  allowed  the  citizens  of  this 
fortress  to  depart  uninjured,  and  afterwards  estab- 
lished a  strong  garrison  in  the  town. 

And  now  the  party  of  the  "pious,"  and  the  four 
surviving  Hasmonean  brothers,  were  shut  up  in  the 
Temple  fortress,  and  the  garrison  of  the  Akra  citadel 
besieged  in  turn  their  former  besiegers,  in  concert 
with  the  great  army  which  had  relieved  them.  The 
sufferings  of  the  Jews  were  increased  by  the  fact 
that,  as  it  was  a    Sabbatic  year,  no  corn  had  been 


140  Judas  Maccabcsus. 

sown  which  might  now  replenish  their  exhausted 
granaries. 

Humanly  speaking,  the  Jewish  revolt  was  at  an 
end,  and  the  heroic  leaders  appeared  doomed  to 
certain  death;  but,  by  a  coincidence  truly  dramatic, 
the  situation  suddenly  changed  with  news  which 
reached  Lysias  just  at  the  commencement  of  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem. 

Philip,  the  foster-brother  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
had  been  appointed  guardian  by  the  dying  tyrant  to 
the  youthful  heir,  and  was  at  this  time  returning  from 
Persia  to  Antioch.  Lysias  had,  however,  no  intention 
of  giving  up  his  power,  and  was  therefore  obliged  to 
return  at  once  to  the  Syrian  capital,  there  to  encounter 
the  new  protector.  A  peace  was  hastily  patched 
up  wdth  the  Jews,  and  the  Greek  military  honour 
being  satisfied  by  the  victory  of  Beth-Zacharias,  it 
was  agreed  that  all  idea  of  compelling  the  Jews  to 
abandon  their  religion  should  be  relinquished,  and 
that  they  should  only  be  required  to  pay  the  ordinary 
tribute,  being  in  other  respects  left  entirely  free  to 
obey  their  national  laws. 

The  besieged  were  happy  to  escape  so  easily, 
remembering  the  cruelties  of  the  fatal  year  i68  B.C. 
They  marched  out  of  the  Temple  stronghold,  trusting 
to  the  promises  of  the  King ;  but  the  latter,  in 
defiance  of  his  oath,  caused  the  great  rampart-walls 
to  be  broken  down,  and  took  away  with  him  the  High 


The  Family  of  Zadok  extinct.  141 

Priest  Onias,  whom  he  regarded,  no  doubt,  as  one  of 
the  main  instigators  of  the  Jewish  discontent,  and  whom 
he  subsequently  put  to  death  at  Aleppo.  Returning 
to  Antioch,  Lysias  found  it  in  possession  of  Philip ; 
he  besieged  the  city,  and  killed  his  rival  after  it  fell. 

The  campaign  of  163  B.C.  thus  brought  fortune,  at 
once  good  and  evil,  to  the  Hasmoneans.  Their 
reputation  must  have  been  seriously  compromised  by 
defeat,  and  we  never  hear  again,  in  the  lifetime  of 
Judas,  of  those  enthusiastic  and  confident  hosts  which 
he  formerly  commanded.  It  was  evident  that  the 
Greeks  were  still  able,  by  putting  forth  their  strength, 
to  crush  any  resistance  that  Jewish  arms  could 
offer,  and  the  Hasmoneans  found  themselves  com- 
pelled to  rely  on  an  alliance  with  another  heathen 
nation,  their  own  strength  being  insufficient  to 
withstand  that  of  the  armies  of  the  Seleucidae. 

But,  at  the  same  time,  the  last  barrier  to  Hasmonean 
ambition  had  been  removed.  The  family  of  Zadok 
had  become  extinct  in  Palestine,  and  the  chosen 
deliverers  of  the  nation  had  the  first  claim  as  members 
of  the  first  order  of  priestly  families  to  the  office  of 
the  High  Priesthood.  During  the  life  of  Onias,  they 
had  made  no  attempt  to  usurp  the  position.  Such 
scruples  were  now  no  longer  necessary.  It  is  not 
certain  that  Judas  became  High  Priest,  but  it  seems 
at  least  that  he  was  so  regarded  by  the  party  of  the 
Chasidim.     Josephus  does  not  enumerate  his  name  in 


142  Jtidas  Maccabceus, 

the  list  of  the  High  Priests  (Ant.  xx.  lo),  but  gives 
that  of  the  High  Priest  nominated  by  Antiochus  to 
succeed  Onias  instead.  On  the  other  hand,  in  relating 
the  history  of  the  revolt,  he  speaks  of  Judas  as  being 
High  Priest  for  the  last  three  years  of  his  life,  or 
from  the  time  of  the  death  of  Onias. 

Alcimus  was  the  priest  chosen  by  the  Greeks  to  fill 
the  office.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Aaron,  but  not 
of  the  family  of  whom  Onias  had  been  the  last  in 
Palestine.  He  also  belonged  to  the  party  of  the 
Hellenisers,  and  the  hatred  and  suspicion  with  which 
the  Chasidim  regarded  him  seems  to  have  exceeded 
that  excited  by  Onias.  He  outlived  Judas,  and  his 
death  at  Jerusalem,  in  159  B.C.,  was  supposed  to  be  a 
judgment  caused  by  his  determination  to  pull  down 
the  wall  of  partition,  in  the  Temple,  which  divided 
the  heathen  from  the  Jews,  a  bulwark  characteristic 
of  Jewish  orthodoxy,  and  a  work  held  sacred  as 
having  been  executed  in  the  time  of  the  "  prophets  " 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 

The  original  family  of  the  High  Priests  traced  back 
its  descent  through  Jesus,  son  of  Josadek,  who  came 
back  with  Ezra,  to  Zadok,  the  first  appointed  High 
Priest  after  the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple,  and 
thus  to  Aaron  himself.  Only  one  representative  of 
this  house  remained,  another  Onias,  son  of  him  who  was 
murdered  at  Aleppo.  He  was  at  this  time  scarcely 
more  than  a  child,  and  escaped  to  Egypt,  where  he 


The  Egyptian  Schis77i.  143 

found  refuge  among  the  Mizraimites,  to  whose  party 
he  belonged. 

The  result  of  this  revolution  was  of  no  little 
importance  to  the  subsequent  history  of  Judaism. 
Hitherto  the  party  of  unorthodox  Jews  living  in 
Egypt  had  acknowledged  the  spiritual  supremacy  of 
the  High  Priest  at  Jerusalem ;  but  now  the  only  true 
High  Priest  became  a  resident  in  Egypt.  Thus, 
while  the  party  of  the  Chasidim  at  Jerusalem 
could  reproach  their  Egyptian  brethren  with  their 
return  to  the  land  of  bondage  in  disobedience  to  the 
commands  of  Moses,  the  Mizraimites  might  now 
retort  that  the  sanctuary  at  Jerusalem  could  no 
longer  be  considered  the  religious  capital,  since  the 
head  of  the  faith  had  quitted  it,  and  since  his  office 
was  usurped  by  a  family  not  consecrated  with  the 
holy  oil  with  which  Aaron  was  christened. 

Yet  further,  they  quoted  a  passage  from  the 
Book  of  Isaiah — greatest  and  most  revered  of  the 
Prophets — to  prove  that  a  Temple  was  to  be  built  in 
Egypt,  such  as  Onias  built  about  the  year  160  B.C. 

"  In  that  day  there  shall  be  an  altar  of  the  Lord  in 
the  land  of  Egypt" — so  ran  the  prophecy.  The 
name  of  the  city  Ir-ha-Heres,  mentioned  in  the  same 
passage,  was  by  the  Mizraimites  rendered  "  city  of  the 
sun,"  and  supposed  to  refer  to  Heliopolis,  where  Onias 
erected  his  Temple,  while  by  the  Jerusalem  school  the 
name  was  translated  to  mean  "  city  of  destruction." 


144  yudas  Maccabcsus. 

A  complete  schism  arose  between  the  Egyptian 
and  Palestinian  Jews,  and  the  religion  of  the  former, 
freed  from  the  restraints  of  strict  orthodoxy,  developed 
rapidly  into  a  mystic  and  allegorical  interpretation  of 
the  whole  teaching  of  Moses. 

^The  Temple  established  at  Heliopolis  remained 
standing  until  about  Ji  B.C.,  and  though  built  in 
imitation  of  that  at  Jerusalem,  it  differed  in  several 
respects.  It  was  situate  about  twenty  miles  from 
Memphis,  and  formed  a  kind  of  fortress.  It  was  sixty 
cubits  high,  and  built  of  large  stones,  but  the  outer  walls 
were  of  brick,  with  stone  gateways.  A  single  lamp 
of  beaten  gold  burned  inside,  instead  of  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick,  and  this  change  of  symbol  was 
no  doubt  connected  with  a  modification  of  the  original 
doctrines  of  Judaism. 

Feasts  peculiar  to  the  Egyptians  were  also  insti- 
tuted, and  the  festival  of  the  first  fruits  was 
observed  with  special  customs,  and  known  as  the 
Feast  of  Baskets.  Sacred  dances,  in  which  women  par- 
ticipated, became  part  of  the  ceremonial,  resembling 
the  Feast  of  Maidens  held  yearly  at  Motza,  which  was 
possibly  instituted  by  the  Hellenists  in  Palestine. 

A  separate  priesthood  was  established  in  Egypt, 
and  thus,  by  the  time  of  Philo,  the  Judaism  of  the 
Mizraimites  presented  a  most  marked  contrast  to  the 
Judaism  of  Palestine,  with  the  development  of  which 
we  are  more  especially  concerned.   ' 


Revolution  at  Antioch.  145 

In  the  year  162  B.C.,  Demetrius,  the  nephew 
of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  who  had  been  sent  as  a 
hostage  to  Rome,  but  who  was  the  rightful  heir  to 
the  throne  of  the  Seleucidae,  escaped  from  Italy  and 
landed  at  Tripoli.  One  of  those  sudden  revolutions 
characteristic  of  the  East  now  occurred.  Lysias  and 
the  boy-king  Antiochus  Eupator  were  seized  and 
slain,  and  Demetrius  sat  on  the  throne  of  his  father, 
Seleucus. 

The  party  of  the  Hellenisers,  headed  by  the  High 
Priest  Alcimus,  came  to  the  new  king,  and  accused 
Judas  of  having  driven  them  from  their  native  land, 
and  of  being  an  enemy  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Greeks.  The  King  at  once  appointed  Bacchides,  one 
of  his  most  trusted  generals,  to  accompany  Alcimus 
to  Jerusalem,  there  to  install  him,  and  to  collect  the 
tribute. 

The  new  governor  entered  Judea  with  peaceful 
protestations,  but  Judas  was  too  wary  to  trust  him- 
self in  the  power  of  the  Hellenists.  Many  of  the 
Chasidim,  however,  were  less  cautious.  "For,"  said 
they,  "  one  that  is  a  priest  of  the  seed  of  Aaron  is 
come  with  this  army,  and  he  will  do  us  no  wrong." 

Trusting  to  the  oaths  and  promises  of  Bacchides, 
some  of  the  pious  went  out  to  meet  him ;  but, 
according  to  the  Jewish  historian,  those  oaths  were 
quickly  broken,  and  no  less  than  sixty  of  the  Chasidim, 
probably  leaders  of  the  party,  were  executed. 

K 


146  Judas  Maccabcsus. 

After  establishing  Alcimus  in  Jerusalem,  Bacchides 
left  the  city,  and  fixed  his  camp  at  a  place  called 
Bezeth,  or  Beth-Zetho.  The  position  of  this  village, 
as  Josephus  calls  it,  is  not  known  with  certainty,  but 
the  most  probable  suggestion  is  perhaps  that  it  was 
the  same  as  Bezetha,  afterwards  part  of  Jerusalem — a 
position  well  fitted  for  the  Greek  camp  intended  to 
overawe  the  city. 

From  Jerusalem,  the  bands  of  foreign  soldiers  and 
the  Hellenists,  under  Alcimus,  went  out  to  hunt  down 
Judas  and  the  Chasidim,  who  in  turn  revenged  them- 
selves on  the  party  now  in  power  whenever  an  oppor- 
tunity occurred.  Thus  the  land  was  desolated  once 
more,  not  by  foreign  persecution,  as  in  168  B.C.,  but 
by  internal  dissension  and  civil  war.  It  appears  that 
Judas  and  his  party  were  the  more  successful,  for 
Alcimus  again  went  to  Antioch,  and  a  new  general, 
named  Nicanor,  was  sent  to  Judea,  with  yet  stricter 
orders  to  suppress  the  seditious  party  of  the  Chasidim. 

Nicanor  reached  Jerusalem,  and,  like  Bacchides, 
endeavoured  to  entice  Judas  into  his  power.  They 
even  arranged  a  meeting,  but  it  became  known  to  the 
Jewish  patriot  that  his  death  was  meditated,  and  he 
consequently  kept  at  a  safe  distance,  his  prudence 
being  as  remarkable  as  his  courage.  Frustrated  in 
his  attempts  to  destroy  Judas  by  treachery,  Nicanor 
endeavoured  to  take  him  by  force.  A  fight  ensued  at 
the  village  of  Caphar  Salama,  a  place  near  the  borders 


Nicanors   Thi^eats.  147 

of  Samaria,  and  not  improbably  the  modern  Selemeh, 
in  the  plains  below  Modin  ;  but  in  this  assault  Nicanor 
was  defeated,  and  forced  to  retire  on  the  citadel  in 
Jerusalem. 

Nicanor  returned  to  vent  his  rage  on  the  unhappy 
inhabitants  of  the  Holy  City.  The  priests  came  to 
meet  him,  and  showed  him  the  sacrifices  daily  offered 
for  King  Demetrius  ;  but  the  baffled  general  treated 
their  advances  with  scorn,  and  swore  that  if  he  could 
not  defeat  Judas,  he  would  revenge  himself  by  burning 
the  Temple.  Even  the  Hellenists  had  cause  to  repent 
their  alliance  with  a  heathen  of  so  violent  a  character. 
The  weeping  priests  stood  before  the  altar,  and 
besought  the  Divine  mercy. 

"  Be  avenged,"  they  cried,  "  O  Lord,  of  this  man 
and  his  host,  and  let  them  fall  by  the  sword  ;  remem- 
ber their  blasphemies,  and  suffer  them  not  to  continue 
any  longer." 

Thus,  with  the  curses  of  the  whole  nation  on  his 
head,  Nicanor  marched  out  to  seek  Judas,  and  to  join 
a  new  army  which  was  advancing  to  meet  him  near 
Bethhoron. 

Once  more  Judas  Maccabaeus  appears  on  the  scene 
as  the  saviour  of  his  distracted  country.  While  the 
two  armies  marched  to  concentrate  near  his  native 
town  of  Modin,  he  appeared  suddenly  in  rear  of 
Nicanor,  and  established  himself  in  a  strong  position, 
guarding  the  northern  approach  to  Jerusalem.     The 


148  Jtidas  MaccabcEiis. 

new  battle-field  chosen  by  the  indomitable  hero 
was  close  to  the  little  village  of  Adasa,  situate 
on  the  Judean  watershed,  four  miles  north  of  Jeru- 
salem, at  the  point  where  the  ancient  high-road 
bifurcates,  the  one  branch  passing  northwards,  along 
a  shallow  depression,  under  the  white  hill  on  which 
stands  Ramah  of  Benjamin,  the  other  crossing  the 
flat  open  valley,  which  in  summer  is  covered  with 
corn,  and  rising  towards  a  crumbling  ruin  on  a  bare 
shapeless  down,  and  thence  running,  north  of  Gibeon, 
to  Bethhoron. 

Here  it  is  that  the  ploughman  still  points  out  the 
dusty  heap  which  represents  the  site  of  an  old  town, 
and  which  is  called  "the  ruin  of  Adasa."  If 
interrogated,  he  will  tell  the  legend  of  a  great  battle 
once  fought  here,  from  which  the  open  valley  has 
obtained  the  title  "  Valley  of  Blood." 

The  scenery  round  Adasa  is  some  of  the  most 
dreary  in  Palestine.  The  flat  valley  head  runs  up 
close  to  the  watershed,  the  ground  is  treeless  and 
barren,  the  rock,  when  visible,  being  a  white  soft 
chalk,  and  the  ploughland  a  deep-red  loam.  The 
surrounding  downs  have  the  usual  tame  outline  of  the 
chalk  in  Palestine,  and  hide  from  sight  the  more  pic- 
turesque mountains  of  Samaria  to  the  north  ;  while  the 
hill  of  A(^asa  shuts  out  the  view  of  Gibeon,  standing 
on  its  isolated  hill  in  the  plain  of  Helkath  Hazzurim. 
About  a  mile  to  the  south  of  Adasa  was  Mizpeh,  on 


Adasa,  149 


the  flat  ridge  behind  which  Jerusalem  Hes  concealed, 
and  the  conical  summit  of  that  mysterious  mountain 
now  named  Neby  Samwil  breaks  the  hill-line  on  the 
south-west.  It  is  an  uninviting  and  bleak  plateau, 
which  the  traveller  crosses  hastily  as  he  approaches 
the  Holy  City ;  but  the  position,  astride  the  two  main 
roads,  in  open  ground,  was  one  not  easily  outflanked, 
and  it  was  selected  with  the  usual  military  instinct 
which  always  distinguished  Judas'  choice  of  vantage 
ground. 

At  Adasa,  Judas  collected  1000  men,  and  lay  in 
ambush  awaiting  Nicanor. 

In  later  times,  the  story  ran  that  a  vision  presented 
itself  to  him  in  the  darkness,  and  that  he  encouraged 
his  men  in  the  morning  by  relating  it  to  them.  He 
seemed  to  see  Onias  the  First,  the  famous  brother 
of  Simon  the  Just,  who  had  been  dead  for  a 
century  and  a-half,  holding  up  his  hands  in 
intercession  for  the  nation,  like  Moses  at  Rephidim. 
The  appearance  of  an  aged  man  of  majestic  mien, 
with  white  hair,  was  next  seen  by  the  dreamer,  hold- 
ing in  his  right  hand  a  sword  of  gold.  The  voice  of 
Onias  proclaimed  that  this  was  Jeremiah  the  prophet, 
and  the  vision  addressed  Judas  with  the  comforting 
assurance,  "Take  this  holy  sword,  a  gift  from  God, 
with  the  which  thou  shalt  wound  the  adversaries." 

The  sober  historian  who  compiled  the  first  Book  of 
Maccabees   does  not,  however,   mention  this  vision. 


150  Judas  MaccabcEus. 

His  narrative  throughout  is  remarkable  for  the 
absence  of  the  supernatural  element,  which  forms  so 
important  a  feature  in  the  later  unhistoric  accounts  of 
the  deeds  of  Judas.  In  the  authentic  accounts  also 
the  Greek  army  is  stated  to  have  numbered  9000 
men,  while  in  the  second  Book  of  Maccabees  the 
number  of  the  slain  alone  in  the  battle  of  Adasa  is 
computed  at  35,000  ;  such  are  the  fabulous  additions 
which  have  gradually  gathered  round  the  veritable 
story  of  many  an  episode  of  Jewish  history. 

On  the  barren  wolds  of  Adasa,  Judas  and  his  men 
bivouacked  in  the  cold  on  the  night  of  the  12th  of 
Adar  (the  beginning  of  March).  The  next  day  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  fast  kept  by  Esther,  when 
all  her  people  lay  under  sentence  of  death,  and  when 
the  religion  of  Israel  seemed  doomed,  as  on  the  eve  of 
the  battle  of  Adasa,  to  sudden  extinction. 

The  morning  came,  and  the  Greek  army  advanced, 
probably  quite  unaware  of  the  ambush  laid  for  them ; 
for  the  army  of  Judas  might,  from  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  have  been  easily  concealed  until  the  enemy 
was  close  at  hand.  In  spite  of  the  great  prepon- 
derance of  numbers,  the  foreign  forces  were  routed 
at  the  first  onslaught,  and  Nicanor  fell,  fighting 
courageously.  The  soldiers  of  Judas  pursued  the 
enemy  to  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  townsmen 
and  villagers  rose  throughout  the  hill  district,  as  the 
heathen  were  driven,  for  yet  a  third  time  in  history, 


The  Feast  of  Purim.  151 

down  the  valley  of  Ajalon,  and  fled  to  the  fortress  of 
Gezer,  which  appears  to  have  been  in  the  hands  of 
the  Greeks. 

The  head  and  right  arm  of  Nicanor  were  cut  off 
and  carried  to  Jerusalem.  Thus,  while  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Holy  City  had  observed  the  fast  of  Esther  with 
fear  and  anxiety,  dreading  the  fate  which  might  befall 
the  Holy  House  if  Nicanor  should  return  victorious, 
and  carry  out  his  threat  of  burning  the  Temple,  they 
had  now  additional  cause  to  celebrate  with  joy  and 
thanksgiving  the  great  feast  of  Purim,  commemorating 
the  deliverance  by  Esther.  On  that  day,  the  14th 
of  Adar,  palm  branches  were  borne  as  at  the  great 
feasts  of  Tabernacles  and  Lights.  Wine  was  drunk 
(and  it  is  clear  from  the  Talmud  that  by  wine  the 
Jews  did  7tot  understand  the  unfermented  juice  of  the 
grape),  and  ever  after,  the  day  was  remembered  as  the 
anniversary  of  two  great  deliverances — the  repeal  of 
the  harsh  sentence  of  Ahasuerus,  and  the  saving  of 
the  Temple  from  its  threatened  destruction  by  Nicanor. 

The  head  of  the  defeated  general,  and  his  hand, 
which  he  had  raised  with  a  blasphemous  oath  against 
the  Holy  House,  were  brought  to  Jerusalem,  and 
hanged  up  opposite  the  Temple.  Thus  for  a  while 
the  patriotic  party  triumphed,  but  the  victory  of 
Adasa  is  the  last  bright  gleam  in  the  story  of  Judas' 
life. 

The  experiences  of  the  last  two  years  seem  to  have 


152  Judas  MaccabceiLs. 

produced  a  sad  conviction  in  the  minds  of  Judas  and 
his  followers  that  deliverance  was  not  to  be  expected 
without  human  aid.  The  first  flush  of  excitement 
which  followed  the  successes  of  the  three  battles  at 
the  passes,  and  of  the  trans-Jordanic  campaign,  had 
died  away.  The  Greeks  had  put  forth  their  strength, 
and  had  razed  the  Temple  walls  to  the  ground.  It 
was  evident  that  another  invasion  would  soon  follow, 
when  the  news  of  Nicanor's  defeat  and  death  should 
have  reached  Antioch,  and  Judas  cast  about  him  for 
an  ally  to  assist  him  against  Demetrius. 

The  power  of  the  Romans  had  been  already  shown 
in  Asia  Minor  at  an  earlier  period.  Antiochus  the 
Great,  the  father  of  Epiphanes  and  the  protector  of 
Hannibal,  had  been  defeated  by  them  at  Thermopylae, 
and  forced  to  send  his  son  as  a  hostage  to  Italy.  The 
history  of  Roman  conquests  in  Europe  and  in  Africa 
had  also  come  to  the  ears  of  Judas.  The  Republic 
was  resting,  and  recovering  its  strength,  after  the  long 
struggle  of  sixty-four  years  with  Carthage,  which  was 
now  humbled,  though  not  as  yet  destroyed. 

In  Greece  also,  after  four  years  of  hard  fighting, 
Perseus,  son  of  Philip  the  Fifth,  the  last  King  of 
Macedon,  had  been  defeated  at  Pydna  by  ^milius 
Paullus,  and  had  been  slain  in  the  same  year  in  which 
the  revolt  had  commenced  at  Modin.  Spain  had 
been  completely  mastered  by  the  elder  Scipio  about 
forty  years  before.     And  the  advantages  obtained  by 


Alliance  ivitli  Rome.  153 

Roman  friendship  were  shown  in  the  case  of  Eumenes, 
King  of  Pergamus,  who  obtained  from  the  Senate 
the  government  of  Lydia,  Mysia,  and  the  Thracian 
Chersonese,  which  had  been  recovered  from  Antio- 
chus,  and  were  now  bestowed  on  the  Roman  ally  who 
had  assisted  in  his  defeat. 

To  Rome,  therefore,  Judas  now  turned  for  assistance. 
The  Romans  were  favourably  disposed  towards  any 
enemy  of  Demetrius  Soter,  and  Jewish  courage  and 
aptitude  for  war  stood  in  high  repute  among  the 
heathen  ever  since  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
Motives  of  policy  also  may  have  induced  the  Senate 
to  look  favourably  on  an  alliance  with  the  Jews,  who 
were  a  Semitic  people,  speaking  a  language  akin  to 
that  of  the  Carthaginians,  and  who  might  perhaps  be 
won  over  to  the  side  of  the  hereditary  enemy  unless 
their  adhesion  to  Rome  were  secured.  Thus  a 
defensive  and  offensive  alliance  presented  advantages 
not  only  to  the  Jews,  but  also  to  the  Romans  them- 
selves. 

The  conclusion  of  such  an  alliance  speaks  well  for 
the  political  prudence  of  Judas.  It  becomes  evident 
that  he  was  no  mere  fanatic,  who,  hoping  against 
hope,  expected  by  the  righteousness  of  his  cause  to 
prevail  against  the  immeasurably  greater  power  of  the 
civilised  heathen.  He  saw  that  times  had  changed 
since  the  ancient  days  of  the  conquest  of  Palestine 
by  Joshua,  and  that  Israel  could  no  longer  hope  to 


154  Judas  MaccabcBiLS, 

extirpate  the  heathen,  but  stood  rather  in  danger  of 
being  annihilated  by  them. 

Thus,  while  his  zeal  for  freedom  and  for  purity  of 
religion  among  his  fellow-countrymen  was  unabated, 
his  prudence  suggested  to  them  an  alliance  with  a 
powerful  and  enlightened  western  nation,  conspicuous 
in  the  heathen  world  for  the  toleration  which  they 
had  shown  towards  the  various  religions  of  the 
many  nations  which  they  had  subjugated,  no  less  than 
for  their  honourable  adherence  to  treaties,  and  for  the 
vigorous  support  which  they  afforded  their  friends. 

At  the  same  time,  the  foresight  of  Judas  was  not 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  predict  the  disastrous  con- 
sequences of  thus  calling  on  one  heathen  nation  to 
assist  Israel  against  another.  No  one  could  have 
anticipated  that,  by  their  own  degeneracy,  the  Has- 
moneans  were  destined  to  disappoint  the  fond  hopes 
of  the  nation,  or  that,  by  their  turbulence  and  the 
virulence  of  their  internal  dissensions,  the  Jews  were 
to  place  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  Rome.  The 
alliance  seemed  at  the  time  to  promise  nothing  but 
good,  and  to  afford  a  protection  to  the  infant  state 
re-created  by  Judas,  which  should  give  free  scope  to 
its  powers  of  growth  at  a  critical  period  of  its 
existence. 

Thus,  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Adasa, 
Eupolemus  and  Jason  were  sent  as  ambassadors  to 
Rome;  and  although  Judas  did  not  live  to  see  their 


Return  of  Bacchides.  155 

return,  a  treaty  was  concluded  which  specially  bound 
the  Romans  to  defend  the  Jews  as  friends  and  allies 
against  their  common  enemy,  Demetrius  Soter.  But 
the  journey  to  Italy  was  a  long  one,  and  before 
the  ambassadors  could  return,  Bacchides  had  once 
more  been  despatched  to  Judea  with  Alcimus.  In 
the  spring  of  161  B.C.,  he  marched  down  through 
Galilee,  and,  according  to  Josephus,  attacked  the  caves 
of  Arbela,  above  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  where  many  Jews 
had  found  refuge.  About  the  time  of  the  Passover, 
he  reached  Jerusalem  with  a  large  force. 

Judas  seems  to  have  been  surprised,  and  was  either 
unable  to  collect  a  sufficient  force  at  so  short  a  notice, 
or  found  it  impossible  to  instil  once  more  into  his 
countrymen  any  portion  of  his  own  heroic  courage. 
Still  he  had  thrice  the  number  with  him  that  he  had 
commanded  at  Adasa.  It  appears  that  he  was  at  the 
time  in  Modin,  and  he  collected  his  forces  at  a  place 
called  Eleasa,  which  is  no  doubt  the  present  IVasa, 
near  the  nether  Bethhoron.  He  determined  to  repeat 
the  strategy  which  had  'proved  successful  at  Adasa, 
and  marched  eastwards  towards  the  narrow  and 
difficult  pass,  north  of  Gophna,  through  which  the 
Greek  army  under  Bacchides  had  just  advanced  from 
Samaria. 

The  advantage  of  surprise  was  not,  however,  gained 
in  his  last  fatal  campaign.  Bacchides  was  apparently 
aware  of  the  force  advancing  against  his  line  of  com- 


156  yudas  MaccabcBus. 

munication,  a  route  by  which  none  of  his  predecessors 
had  ventured  to  enter  Judea:  he,  therefore,  imme- 
diately retreated  northwards  towards  the  pass,  and 
encamped  with  20,000  foot  and  2000  horse  at  Beeroth 
of  Benjamin,  south  of  Bethel. 

The  country  which  thus  became  the  theatre  of  war 
is  perhaps  the  most  rugged  in  Palestine.  The  narrow 
road  runs  along  the  watershed,  and  on  the  north-west, 
the  traveller,  after  passing  Bethel,  looks  down  on 
a  deep  stony  valley,  beyond  which  rise  rugged 
mountains  crowned  by  villages  which  stand  out  like 
fortresses  along  the  sky-line.  The  steep  hillsides 
have  been  laboriously  stepped  with  terraces,  on  which 
the  bright  green  foliage  of  the  fig  presents  a  vivid 
contrast  to  the  ruddy  colour  of  the  rocks,  while  in 
parts  the  trailing  vines  hang  down  over  the  rude 
retaining  walls,  forming  a  long  curtain  of  apple-green 
foliage.  The  district  is  well  watered,  and  full  of 
traces  of  ancient  habitation  and  cultivation.  To  the 
north  is  the  pass  in  which  the  small  spring  now  called 
"the  robber's  fountain"  drips  out  beneath  a  precipice  ; 
and,  to  the  east  of  this,  a  perfectly  bare  and  dark-grey 
rocky  mountain  rises  to  a  greater  height  than  any 
other  point  in  Palestine  south  of  Upper  Galilee.  This 
mountain  is  the  ancient  Baal  Hazor,  where  Absalom 
had  sheep-shearers,  and  from  its  summit,  in  clear 
weather,  the  snowy  dome  of  Hermon  is  seen  above 
the  chain  of  Ebal. 


Berzetho,  157 


The  great  boundary  valley  which  now  separated  the 
hosts  was  at  one  time  the  border  of  the  kingdom  of 
Israel ;  for  Bethel,  Jeshanah,  and  Ephron  were  frontier 
towns,  taken  by  Abijah  from  Jeroboam  ;  and  of  the 
two  latter,  Ephron  was  beneath  the  brow  of  Baal 
Hazor,  and  the  other,  Jeshanah,  stood  on  the  brink  of 
the  valley,  at  the  present  'Ain  Sinia,  near  Gophna. 

Judas  and  his  men  had  reached  the  northern  brink 
of  the  great  valley  at  Berzetho  (the  present  Bir  ez 
Zeit)y  ten  miles  north-east  of  Eleasa,  and  only  about 
three  miles  from  the  pass.  His  endeavour  seems  to 
have  been  to  gain  the  heights  above  the  main  road, 
for  it  is  specially  noted  that  he  directed  his  main 
attack  on  the  eastern  or  right  flank  of  Bacchides* 
army. 

It  was  no  longer  an  enthusiastic  and  confident  host 
that  he  led.  The  Jews  were  dismayed  at  the  inferiority 
of  their  numbers,  and  when  the  morning  of  the  battle 
came,  Judas  found  that,  out  of  3000  men,  all  but 
800  had  deserted  him.  Those  who  remained  en- 
deavoured to  dissuade  him  from  fighting ;  but  the 
Greeks  were  already  in  motion  to  attack  the  strong 
position  which  he  held,  and  the  hope  which  had 
sustained  him  at  Bethhoron  and  Emmaus,  at  Bethsura 
and  at  Adasa,  was  still  strong  in  his  heart.  Never- 
theless, there  was  a  sort  of  presentiment  in  his  words, 
"  If  our  time  be  come,  let  us  die  manfully  for  our 
brethren,  and  let  us  not  stain  our  honour." 


158  Judas  MaccabcBUs> 

The  Greek  army  was  divided  into  two  wings,  with 
cavalry  on  either  flank  (though  the  ground  was  ill 
adapted  for  the  use  of  this  arnj),  and  with  light 
infantry,  archers,  and  slingers  in  front.  Bacchides 
himself  commanded  the  right  wing,  which  protected 
the  line  of  his  communications. 

With  all  the  old  impetuosity  of  attack  which  had 
characterised  his  successful  battles,  Judas  broke  in  on 
the  right  wing  and  drove  it  to  the  mountains ;  but  the 
numbers  he  led  were  too  few;  the  pursuit  was  too 
rash  ;  the  left  wing  of  the  Greek  army  attacked  the 
pursuers  in  rear,  and,  thus  shut  in  between  two 
enemies,  the  little  band  of  Judas  was  surrounded  and 
annihilated. 

"Judas  also  was  killed,  and  the  remnant  fled." 

So,  like  the  English  Harold  at  Hastings,  the  hero 
died  at  bay,  fighting  to  the  last.  His  body  was 
afterwards  recovered  by  his  brethren  and  carried  to 
Modin,  where  he  was  laid  beside  his  father,  and 
where  a  great  lamentation  was  made  over  him. 

Thus  perished  the  best,  the  bravest,  and  the  most 
famous  of  the  five  Hasmonean  brothers.  From  the 
stony  knoll  where  he  lay  buried,  his  countrymen  could 
point  on  every  side  to  scenes  of  victory — eastward, 
to  the  slopes  of  Bethhoron,  the  scene  of  his  first 
resolute  defence  of  the  entrance  into  Judea;  south- 
wards, to  Emmaus,  the  scene  of  his  famous  night 
attack  ;  westward,  to  Caphar  Salama,  where  he  had 


Death  of  Judas,  159 

defeated  Nicanor ;  but  the  disastrous  fields  of  Beth- 
Zacharias  and  of  Berzetho  were  not  in  sight. 

So  also,  as  we  review  the  history  of  the  hero,  his 
defeats  seem  to  fade  from  our  notice,  when  we 
remember  the  brilliant  victories  he  won,  and  the 
substantial  benefits  he  bestowed  on  his  country. 

From  the  story  of  his  actions,  we  have  been  able  to 
form  some  kind  of  idea  of  the  character  of  the  man. 
We  know  that  he  was  strong  and  brave,  and  we  may 
believe  that  he  was  beautiful,  for  he  came  of  a  family 
conspicuous  for  personal  beauty.  We  have  seen  that 
he  possessed  a  simple  and  constant  faith  in  the  Divine 
power  to  give  the  victory  to  those  who  were  not 
strong,  and  the  race  to  those  who  were  not  swift ;  that 
he  maintained  the  primitive  purity  of  the  Hebrew 
religion,  untainted  by  any  of  those  latitudinarian 
tendencies  which  debased  the  more  spiritual  worship 
of  the  Jew  by  the  admixture  of  the  grosser  and  more 
material  conceptions  of  the  heathen.  At  the  same 
time,  we  have  seen  that  Judas  was  not  a  mere  fanatic ; 
that  he  knew  the  advantages  which  civilisation  and 
organisation  gave  to  his  foes  ;  and  that  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  allies  to  assist  his  countrymen 
in  their  struggle  for  freedom. 

That  Judas  possessed  military  genius  we  can  hardly 
doubt,  when  we  consider  how  well  he  understood  the 
advantages  which  might  be  obtained  by  a  careful 
choice  of  position, by  sudden  surprise,  by  well-sustained 


i6o  Judas  MaccabcEus. 

and  rapid  pursuit,  and  by  falling  on  the  flank  and 
rear  of  the  enemy.  That  he  was  energetic,  determined, 
enduring,  and  cautious,  we  gather  from  the  story  of 
each  of  his  campaigns  and  battles. 

Nor  was  his  wisdom  as  a  ruler  and  politician  less 
remarkable.  He  found  his  countrymen  spiritless  and 
scattered.  He  not  only  taught  them  the  value  of 
their  mountain  fastnesses,  and  the  tactics  which  gave 
them  advantage  over  trained  troops,  but,  what  was 
more,  he  founded  a  state  forming  a  nucleus  round  which 
the  scattered  Israelites  of  Peraea  and  Galilee  gathered 
rapidly,  and  which  gradually  extended  its  borders  to 
include  all  Southern  Palestine. 

But  perhaps  the  most  important  act  in  Judas' 
career  was  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  with  Rome. 
His  foresight  provided  a  protection  for  Jewish  freedom 
and  faith  which  probably  saved  them  from  utter 
extinction  ;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  alliance  which, 
in  the  next  thirty  years,  made  Judea  an  independent 
kingdom,  proved,  in  another  century,  the  cause  of  the 
final  destruction  of  the  Holy  City  and  of  the  Temple  ; 
so  little  can  man  foresee  the  results  of  his  most  care- 
fully considered  actions. 


CHAPTER     VI. 

THE     SURVIVING     BROTHERS. 
161-114  B.C. 

n^HE  hero  died,  and  the  nation  mourned  him ;  but 
■'■  his  work  was  done,  and  the  long-lost  freedom  of 
Israel  was  once  more  regained.  Jewish  nationality 
had  revived,  and  had  become  consolidated,  purged 
from  the  Hellenising  element,  and  freed  from  foreign 
tyranny.  A  period  of  trouble  did  indeed  follow  the 
defeat  and  death  of  Judas,  but  there  was  no  longer 
any  danger  of  the  extinction  of  Judaism  as  a  religion, 
or  of  the  loss  of  Hebrew  nationality. 

Judas  had  sown  the  seed,  and  had  fostered  the 
tender  plant,  but  he  was  taken  away  without  seeing 
the  fair  fruit  which  ripened  later.  His  personal 
history  is  comprised  in  the  brief  story  of  eight  years 
of  struggle  and  war  which  has  been  narrated  in  the 
last  three  chapters  ;  but  the  tale  is  incomplete  without 
a  glance  at  the  history  of  the  next  half-century,  during 
which  the  prosperity  of  the  Jews  rapidly  increased 
and  reached  its  acme. 

L 


1 62  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

The  fatal  year  i6i  B.C.  was  the  first  of  seven  during 
which  the  foreign  persecution  raged  throughout  Judea. 
The  Hellenists,  protected  by  Bacchides,  regained 
their  former  ascendency ;  and  the  Chasidim,  with  the 
Hasmonean  family,  were  obliged  to  fly  to  the  desert. 
The  wars  of  the  preceding  years  had  prevented  the 
tilling  of  the  land,  and  a  famine  now  resulted,  so  that 
the  very  ground  (as  the  historian  says)  appeared  to 
rebel  against  the  unfortunate  Jews. 

The  main  object  of  Bacchides  appears  to  have  been 
to  exterminate  the  Hasmonean  family.  The  cause  of 
freedom  was  now  so  entirely  identified  with  the  name 
of  the  sons  of  Mattathias,  that  the  Greek  general's 
efforts  were  directed  rather  towards  the  persecution 
of  the  heroic  house  which  had  delivered  Israel  than 
to  a  general  persecution  of  the  race  and  religion. 

On  the  death  of  Judas,  his  youngest  brother, 
Jonathan,  who  had  gained  the  nickname  of  Apphus, 
or  "the  wary,"  was  chosen  High  Priest  and  leader. 
It  is  curious  that  Simon  and  Johanan,  both  older  than 
either  Jonathan  or  even  Judas,  do  not  appear  to  have 
taken  the  lead  even  after  the  death  of  him  who  was 
considered  the  boldest  and  most  skilled  in  war.  The 
character  of  Jonathan  is  the  least  admirable  of  all  the 
five.  His  history  is  one  of  constant  intrigue,  and  his 
successes  were  due  to  craft  and  duplicity  rather  than 
to  valour  and  wisdom. 

Yet   for   eighteen   years   he   led    the   nation,   and 


Flight  to  the  Desert.  163 

it  was  only  after  his  death  that  the  wise  Simon 
assumed  the  position  of  leader,  when  he  was  already 
advanced  in  age,  and  the  only  survivor  of  the 
five  famous  brothers.  In  spite  of  right  of  birth,  and 
of  the  deference  due  to  his  father's  dying  counsel  to 
"give  ear  to  him  alway,"  he  remains  in  the  back- 
ground until  all  the  rest  are  dead  and  gone,  and  then 
appears  as  the  most  successful  of  the  five.  His 
character  was,  however,  best  suited  for  the  conduct  of 
government  in  time  of  peace,  when  wisdom  and  policy 
were  of  more  avail  than  bravery  and  enterprise,  and 
this  is  perhaps  the  real  reason  why,  in  the  days  of 
combat  and  struggle,  the  fierce  spirits  of  the  younger 
brethren  eclipsed  for  a  time  the  more  solid  character 
of  Simon. 

The  news  of  the  choice  of  Jonathan  as  the  successor 
of  Judas  reached  Bacchides,  who  at  once  endeavoured 
to  seize  for  execution  the  new  rebel  chief. 

The  Hasmoneans  and  their  followers  fled  to  the 
dreary  wilderness  which  extends  south-east  of  the 
mountain-town  of  Tekoa,  and  there  lived,  like  the 
surrounding  Arabs,  in  tents  by  a  great  well,  or  tank, 
named  Asphar. 

The  site  of  this  place  has  been  hitherto  unknown, 
but  seems  probably  to  be  represented  by  the  remark- 
able isolated  hill  in  this  desert,  about  twenty  miles 
from  Tekoa,  which  still  bears  the  name  Safra  es  Sana, 
or  "  Safra  of  the  tank."     It  commands  a  view  of  the 


164  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

whole  of  the  desolate  wilderness  lying  above  the  cliffs 
of  Engedi,  and  is  one  of  the  few  places  where  water 
can  be  found  in  the  desert. 

The  Judean  desert,  or  Jeshimon,  has  been  the 
refuge  for  outlaws  since  the  days  of  David,  and  to 
it  the  Syrian  still  flies  for  refuge  from  the  myrmidons 
of  Turkish  justice.  The  Hasmoneans  did  not,  how- 
ever, feel  secure  west  of  Jordan,  and  Johanan,  the 
eldest  brother,  was  therefore  sent  to  contract  an 
alliance  with  the  Nabatheans,  who  had  already 
proved  friendly  to  Judas  during  his  expedition 
to  Bashan.  On  his  way,  he  was  attacked  by  a 
tribe  called  Ambri,  near  Madeba,  and  slain.  The 
two  surviving  brothers  soon  after  crossed  the 
Jordan,  and  fell  upon  his  murderers  while  they  were 
celebrating  a  marriage.  By  a  bloody  massacre  they 
avenged  the  death  of  their  elder  brother,  and  after- 
wards sought  refuge  from  the  Ammonites  on  the  one 
side,  and  from  Bacchides  on  the  other,  by  hiding  in 
the  cane  brakes  and  tamarisk  marshes  which  surround 
the  course  of  the  Jordan. 

Bacchides  was  close  on  their  heels,  and  it  appears 
that  Simon  and  Jonathan  were  hemmed  in  by  the 
Greeks  and  by  the  river,  probably  in  one  of  the  great 
loops  which  are  formed  by  the  tortuous  course  of  the 
stream.  They  fought  with  the  courage  of  despair, 
and  defended  themselves  even  on  the  Sabbath  day,  in 
accordance  with  the  decision  which  Mattathias  had 


Death  of  Alcimits.  165 


pronounced  eight  years  before,  that  self-defence  was 
not  forbidden  by  the  Law  as  an  infringement  of  the 
Sabbath  rest. 

Bacchides  had  now  obtained  the  mastery  of  the 
Judean  hills,  and  turned  the  example  of  Judas  to 
good  account.  He  strengthened  the  frontier  fortresses, 
which  protected  the  various  approaches  to  the  capital, 
and  shut  out  the  Chasidim  in  the  desert.  He,  more- 
over, took  hostages  from  all  the  chief  inhabitants 
of  Jerusalem,  and  imprisoned  them  in  the  Akra 
Castle. 

In  the  year  159  B.C.,  Alcimus,  the  de  facto  High 
Priest,  appointed  by  Demetrius,  and  supported  by 
Bacchides  and  the  Hellenists,  died,  as  before  related, 
at  Jerusalem.  Bacchides  was  at  this  time  absent  at 
Antioch,  and  active  persecution  of  the  Chasidim 
ceased  for  two  years,  during  all  which  period,  however, 
they  appear  to  have  been  shut  out  of  the  cultivated 
country.  With  the  absence  of  Bacchides,  the  Has- 
moneans  regained  confidence,  and  the  Hellenists 
sent  hastily  to  Antioch,  hoping  that  an  adequate 
force  might  be  able  to  surprise  and  defeat  the 
small  band  which  adhered  so  firmly  to  the  deter- 
mination to  remain  free.  They  were,  however,  once 
more  disappointed,  and  the  "wary"  Jonathan  retired 
to  a  desert  fortress  called  Bethbasi — a  name  sugges- 
tive of  a  marshy  site — which  Josephus  identifies  with 
the  old  border  town  of  Beth-Hoglah,  by  the  beautiful 


1 66  Judas  Maccabceus. 

blue  spring,  surrounded-  by  a  cane  brake,  near  the 
mouth  of  Jordan,  on  the  west  of  the  river. 

Bacchides  attacked  the  new  fortress,  but  was  dis- 
comfited, and  obliged  to  raise  the  regular  siege  ;  for 
Jonathan  succeeded  in  leaving  the  town,  and  fell  by 
night  on  the  camp  of  the  Arab  contingent  which  was 
assisting  the  Greeks,  while  Simon,  by  concerted  plan, 
made  a  simultaneous  sortie. 

The  defeated  Bacchides  revenged  himself  on  the 
Hellenists  in  Jerusalem,  many  of  whom  he  executed, 
and  so  left  the  country,  and  disappears  from  the 
story,  having  probably  fallen  into  disgrace  at  Antioch 
in  consequence  of  his  failures.  Jonathan  profited  by 
his  success,  entering  into  a  sort  of  truce  with  Bacchides 
before  he  left,  and  exchanging  prisoners.  Thus,  in 
the  year  157  B.C.,  the  persecution  came  to  an  end,  but 
it  was  not  until  153  B.C.  that  the  two  brothers  ventured 
to  settle  at  Michmash,  a  city  in  a  naturally  strong 
position,  close  to  that  friendly  desert  to  which  they 
would  be  able  to  retire  at  once  if  again  attacked  by 
the  Greek  forces. 

Thus  the  dark  days  of  persecution  which  followed 
the  death  of  Judas  passed  away ;  and  from  the  year 
153  B.C.  the  power  and  influence  of  the  Hasmoneans 
revived,  and  steadily  increased  year  by  year. 

The  story  of  the  next  ten  years  is  one  of  continual 
intrigue  and  conflict.  The  rival  claimants  of  the 
throne   of  Antioch,  descendants   of  Demetrius,   the 


Alexander  Balas.  167 

rightful  heir,  and  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  the  usurper, 
struggled  with  varying  success  against  one  another. 
The  "wary,"  or,  to  speak  more  plainly,  the  crafty 
Jonathan  profited  by  these  dissensions,  and  wrung 
concession  after  concession,  privilege  after  privilege, 
from  either  side.  He  availed  himself  of  the  seasons 
of  anarchy  to  refuse  payment  of  any  tribute,  and  to 
enlarge  and  strengthen  the  borders  of  the  Judean 
kingdom.  The  nation  increased  steadily  in  wealth 
and  importance,  and  the  demands  of  the  successive 
Greek  suzerains  were  more  and  more  reduced  as 
the  power  of  the  Greeks  declined  and  the  strength  of 
the  Jews  became  greater. 

In  the  year  152  B.C.,  Alexander  Balas,  the  supposed 
son  of  the  old  persecutor  and  usurper  Epiphanes, 
landed  at  Accho,  and  established  a  rival  capital  at 
that  port,  while  Demetrius  ruled  in  Antioch.  The 
assistance  which  might  be  obtained  from  the  Jews 
now  became  a  matter  of  importance,  and  Demetrius 
sought  to  conciliate  Jonathan  by  giving  up  the  hostages 
whom  Bacchides  had  taken  from  the  chief  families  in 
Jerusalem,  and  who  were  kept  prisoners  in  the  Castle 
of  Akra.  Jonathan,  in  return,  was  to  furnish  a  con- 
tingent of  armed  men,  and  to  attack  Alexander  from 
the  south. 

Armed  with  royal  authority,  and  recognised  as  the 
head  of  his  nation,  Jonathan  hastened  from  Michmash 
to  Jerusalem,  and  read  to  the  astonished  Hellenists 


1 68  Judas  MaccabcBits. 

and  to  the  garrison  of  the  tower  the  letters  of  Deme- 
trius. It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  he  had  any 
intention  of  loyally  assisting  Demetrius,  but  meant 
rather  to  turn  the  unexpected  good  fortune  which 
had  befallen  him  to  account  in  strengthening  himself 
against  the  Hellenists.  Alexander  Balas  was  the 
acknowledged  favourite  of  Rome,  and  Jonathan  knew 
enough  of  the  power  of  that  nation  to  be  aware  that 
it  was  politic  to  adhere  to  the  allies  whom  Judas  had 
secured,  even  when  they  favoured  a  descendant,  or 
putative  son,  of  the  tyrant  against  whom  Judas  had 
revolted. 

The  first  result  of  the  acknowledgment  of  Jonathan 
by  Demetrius  was  the  abandonment  of  Judea  by  the 
Hellenists.  The  foreign  garrisons  established  by 
Bacchides  deserted  the  fortresses,  and  fled  from  the 
country,  and  only  in  Bethsura  and  in  the  Castle  of 
Akra  were  any  Greeks  left.  The  second  result  was 
that  Alexander  Balas  also  made  overtures  to  the 
Jews,  and  acknowledged  Jonathan  as  High  Priest, 
sending  him  a  purple  robe  and  crown  of  gold,  in 
which  he  first  appeared  publicly  at  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles.  Armour  was  prepared,  soldiers  were 
enrolled,  and  the  Jews  appeared  ready  to  join  one  or 
other  of  the  rivals ;  but  Jonathan  was  only  preparing 
for  action  on  his  own  account,  and  succeeded,  with 
consummate  skill,  in  carrying  out  a  policy  of 
."  masterly  inactivity." 


Death  of  Demetrms  Sotcr.  169 

Demetrius  became  alarmed,  and  promised  yet  larger 
concessions  ;  toleration  of  the  Jewish  religion  through- 
out Asia^the  remission  of  tribute  and  taxes,  the  return 
of  the  captives  taken  to  Antioch,  the  extension  of  the 
Jewish  frontier  towards  Samaria,  the  establishment  of 
Jerusalem  as  a  free  city,  and  of  the  Temple  as  a 
sanctuary  for  all  who  fled  into  it,  the  rebuilding  of 
the  city  walls,  and  a  large  money  subsidy,  together 
with  the  promised  demolition  of  the  hated  Castle  of 
Akra,  and  the  gift  of  the  town  of  Accho  (or  Ptolemais), 
when  taken,  to  the  Jews.  Such  were  the  promised 
privileges  with  which  Demetrius  endeavoured  to  bribe 
the  nation  which  he  had  oppressed  for  ten  years.  In 
return,  he  asked  for  30,000  men,  who  were  to  attack 
Ptolemais  simultaneously  with  a  force  advancing  from 
Antioch. 

To  these  alluring  promises  Jonathan  and  the  Jews 
turned  a  deaf  ear.  They  were  too  good  to  be  true, 
and  the  dread  of  incurring  the  wrath  of  Rome  out- 
weighed them.  Demetrius  attacked  Alexander, 
without  receiving  any  help  from  Jonathan  ;  he  was 
defeated,  and  drowned  in  a  marsh  ;  and  although  the 
Jews  had  held  an  entirely  neutral  position,  they  appear 
to  have  gained  favour  with  the  victorious  Alexander, 
and  Jonathan  was  named  Meridarch,  or  tributary 
Prince  of  Judea. 

Five  years  passed  away,  and  in  147  B.C.  another 
claimant  appeared  on  the  scene.     Demetrius,  the  son 


I/O  Judas  MaccabcBUs. 

of  Demetrius  Soter,  landed  in  Cilicia,  whence  he 
threatened  Antioch. 

A  certain  general,  named  ApoUonius  Daiis,  was 
chosen  by  Alexander  Balas  as  governor  of  Coelesyria. 
He  proceeded  to  garrison  Joppa  and  Jamnia,  and 
declared  in  favour  of  the  new  claimant,  Demetrius 
Nicator.  He  challenged  Jonathan,  as  the  friend  of 
Alexander,  to  battle  in  the  plains ;  and,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  Hasmonean  history,  the  Jews  fought  a 
successful  battle  against  cavalry,  and  unaided  by  the 
rugged  character  of  mountain  country. 

The  Jewish  army  amounted  to  10,000  men.  They 
first  took  possession  of  Joppa,  thus  cutting  off  Apol- 
lonius  from  Antioch.  The  Greek  general,  with  8000 
foot  and  3000  horse,  made  a  feigned  retreat  towards 
Ashdod,  endeavouring  to  draw  Jonathan  into  the 
plains.  The  Jews,  caught  between  the  main  force 
and  an  ambush  of  1000  men,  were  subjected,  for  the 
whole  course  of  one  day,  to  the  assaults  of  cavalry. 
They  stood  firm,  and  the  horses  were  finally  tired  out 
by  the  soft  and  heavy  nature  of  the  ground.  In  the 
afternoon,  Simon,  the  brother  of  Jonathan,  with  a 
reserve  body,  attacked  the  infantry  of  the  enemy,  and 
the  squares,  which,  under  cover  of  their  shields,  had 
resisted  so  stoutly  the  repeated  cavalry  charges,  broke 
up  and  pursued  the  defeated  Greeks  even  as  far  as 
Ashdod,  Vvhich  was  taken,  and  where  the  temple  of 
Dagon  was  burnt. 


Death  of  Alexander  Balas.  171 

If  the  battle  of  Emmaus  may  be  compared  with 
Austerhtz,  the  battle  of  Ashdod  may,  with  equal 
propriety,  be  likened  to  Waterloo.  It  was  the  victory 
of  a  stubborn  general  clinging  to  his  position  through 
a  series  of  fierce  attacks,  and  finally  relieved  by  an 
ally,  converting  the  defence  into  an  irresistible  attack. 

Ascalon  submitted  to  Jonathan  immediately  after 
this  battle,  and  Alexander  Balas  sent  him  a  golden 
brooch,  or  buckle,  and  bestowed  the  lands  of  Ekron 
on  the  Jews,  thus  joining  the  port  of  Joppa  to  the 
hills  bounded  by  Gezer. 

Demetrius  Nicator  was,  however,  successful.  He 
was  assisted  by  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  King  of  Egypt, 
to  whom  he  had  offered  Coelesyria  as  a  bribe,  and 
whom  Alexander  Balas,  although  he  had  married 
Ptolemy's  daughter  Cleopatra,  had  endeavoured  to 
poison  at  Ptolemais.  Demetrius  took  Antioch,  and 
Alexander  fled  to  Arabia,  where  he  w^as  beheaded  by 
an  Arab  chief  named  Zabdiel.  Cleopatra,  his  widow, 
became  the  wife  of  the  victorious  Demetrius. 

Jonathan  was  now  on  the  losing  side,  but  appears 
to  have  felt  strong  enough,  as  the  ally  of  Rome  and 
the  conqueror  of  Apollonius,  to  resist  Demetrius.  He 
took  the  opportunity  of  the  dissensions  at  Antioch  to 
renew  the  attack  on  the  Akra  citadel,  which,  with  the 
frontier  town  of  Bethsura,  was  now  the  last  refuge  of 
the  Macedonian  garrisons  and  of  the  Hellenists. 
Demetrius  ordered  him  to  desist,  but  Jonathan  went 


\'j2  Judas  Maccabcsiis. 

to  Ptolemais,  and  there,  by  heavy  bribes,  induced 
him  to  fulfil  the  promises  of  his  father,  Demetrius 
Soter. 

The  three  coveted  frontier  districts,  Lydda,  Rama- 
them,  and  Apherema,  were  taken  from  Samaria 
and  given  to  Judea ;  the  country  was  declared 
free  of  tribute,  and  the  taxes  were  remitted.  P'or 
these  immunities,  Jonathan  paid  the  sum  of  300 
talents. 

In  the  year  146  B.C.  further  troubles  occurred,  and 
again  the  Hasmoneans  profited  by  them,  increasing 
their  own  power  in  proportion  as  the  strength  of 
the  rival  Seleucidae  was  diminished  by  dissension. 
Trypho,  an  old  general  of  Alexander  Balas,  brought 
from  Arabia  the  youthful  Antiochus,  son  of  Balas, 
and  proclaimed  him  King.  Jonathan  at  once  declared 
afjainst  Demetrius,  who  had  even  consented  to  the 
withdrawal  of  the  garrison  of  Akra,  in  return  for  a 
contingent  of  3000  Jews,  who  had  been  sent  to 
Antioch. 

Trypho  succeeded  in  taking  Antioch,  just  as 
Demetrius  himself  had  previously  done  ;  for  it  would 
appear  that  as  each  new  pretender  obtained  power,  he 
so  abused  it  as  to  become  more  hateful  to  his  subjects 
than  his  predecessors,  and  thus  the  support  of  the 
oppressed  populace  appears  to  have  been  always  given 
to  the  new  comer. 

While  civil  war  thus   raged   again   in   the   north, 


Battle  of  Kadesh.  173 

Jonathan  attacked  Ascalon  and  Gaza,  and  his  brother 
Simon  took  Bethsura,  the  last  of  the  strongholds  of 
the  forei_gn  garrisons.  He  next  advanced  into  Galilee, 
and  met  the  generals  of  Demetrius  on  the  old  battle- 
field of  Hazor,  in  the  mountains  near  Kadesh  Naph- 
tali,  where  Joshua  of  old  had  defeated  the  Canaanites. 
Here,  though  caught  in  an  ambush,  he  succeeded  in 
rallying  his  men,  and  won  a  victory. 

The  power  of  the  nation  now  increased  rapidly. 
The  league  with  Rome  was  renewed,  and  another  was 
contracted  with  the  Lacedemonians.  The  generals 
of  Demetrius  were  met  on  the  occasion  of  their  next 
expedition  long  before  they  even  reached  Galilee,  and 
were  opposed  by  Jonathan  near  Hamath ;  they  had 
not  even  the  courage  to  attack  him,  but  retreated  by 
night,  leaving  their  camp-fires  burning  to  deceive  the 
Jews. 

The  fortress  of  Akra  was  now  the  last  stronghold 
of  the  foreigners,  and  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  Jewish 
rulers.  Jonathan  determined  to  starve  out  the 
garrison,  and  to  build  a  wall  which  should  divide 
Jerusalem,  and  separate  the  upper  town,  or  Upper 
Market,  from  the  Castle.  This  wall  may  possibly 
have  been  that  afterwards  described  by  Josephus 
as  running  from  west  to  east  on  the  crest  of  the 
highest  hill  on  the  south  side  of  the  Tyropceon,  a 
line  of  fortification  which  is  not  mentioned  as  existing 
in  the  time  of  Nehemiah,  or  at   any  earlier  period. 


1/4  Judas  Maccabceus. 

The  garrison  were  thus  cut  off  from  the  water- 
supply  at  Siloam,  and  were  unable  to  attack  the 
worshippers  approaching  the  Temple  enclosure  from 
the  city. 

At  the  same  time,  Joppa  and  Ascalon  were  con- 
quered by  Jonathan,  and  an  expedition  was  under- 
taken by  him  against  the  Nabatheans,  during  which 
he  succeeded  in  penetrating  as  far  as  Damascus.  A 
new  frontier  fortress  was  also  built  in  the  region 
recently  acquired  from  the  Samaritans.  It  was  a 
city  called  Adida,  the  modern  Haditheh,  perched  on 
a  knoll  in  the  low  hills  of  the  Shephelah,  just  above 
the  plains  of  Lydda.  The  old  walls  of  Jerusalem 
above  the  Kedron  were  also  repaired. 

Three  years  passed,  and  Trypho  began  to  plot 
against  the  boy-king  whom  he  had  set  on  the  throne 
of  Antioch.  He  appears  to  have  mistrusted  Jonathan, 
whose  new  fortresses  and  increasing  army  he  regarded 
with  suspicion.  The  Jews  had  paid  no  tribute,  and  had 
changed  sides  three  times  during  the  struggles  of  the 
two  opposing  parties  at  Antioch.  Trypho,  therefore, 
determined  to  get  rid  of  the  wily  Hasmonean  prince, 
and  advanced  into  Galilee,  where  Jonathan  met 
him. 

Tempting  him  with  false  hopes  of  the  acquisition 
of  Ptolemais,  Trypho  succeeded  in  luring  the  too 
confident  Jonathan  into  that  city,  with  a  following 
of  only  1000  men.     He  then  threw- him  into  prison, 


Death  of  Jonathan.  175 

and  soon  after  marched  down  the  plain  of  Sharon, 
bringing  the  unfortunate  Hasmonean  with  him  in 
chains.     , 

Simon,  the  last  of  the  brothers  left  to  lead  the 
Jews,  hastily  collected  an  army,  and  occupied  the  new 
fortress  of  Adida,  which  guarded  the  first  approach 
from  the  plains  near  Lydda  to  the  famous  pass  of 
Bethhoron.  He  also  threw  a  garrison  into  Joppa, 
thus  threatening  both  flanks  of  the  enemy. 

Trypho  advanced,  and  demanded  the  payment  of 
100  talents  as  tribute,  and  hostages  for  the  fidelity  of 
Jonathan  when  released.  Both  were  sent ;  but  Trypho 
still  advanced,  and  finding  the  Bethhoron  pass  closed, 
went  south  to  ascend,  if  possible,  by  Adora,  and  so 
northwards  along  the  watershed.  The  strategy  of 
the  first  year  of  the  revolt  was  thus  repeated,  and 
Simon  watched  the  enemy  from  the  hills  just  as 
Judas  had  watched  Lysias  before  the  victory  of  Beth- 
sura.  An  urgent  appeal  was  sent  to  Trypho  from  the 
garrison  of  Akra,  advising  him  to  advance  by  the 
difficult  and  little-known  route  which  led  along  the 
desert  east  of  the  watershed.  But  it  was  winter ; 
heavy  snow  in  the  high  Hebron  hills  impeded  the 
movements  of  the  cavalry,  and  Trypho  found  himself 
obliged  to  retire.  He  retreated  into  Ccelesyria,  and 
thence  made  a  raid  into  the  country  of  Gilead,  where 
he  put  the  unhappy  Jonathan  to  death,  after  having 
kept  him  so  long  a  prisoner  with  his  army. 


iy6  Jtcdas  Maccabceus, 

It  is  impossible  to  feel  the  sympathy  for  Jonathan 
which  the  fate  of  Judas  Maccabasus  calls  forth.  His 
career  of  seventeen  years  had  been,  on  the  whole, 
successful ;  but  it  is  a  history  of  intrigue  and  con- 
tinual change  of  policy,  rather  than  of  bold  resistance 
and  unflinching  assertion  of  independence.  The  wily 
Jonathan  was  finally  outwitted,  and  died  igno- 
miniously  ;  but  the  brave  Judas  fell  fighting  for  the 
defence  of  his  country  against  overpowering  odds. 

The  death  of  Jonathan,  in  143  B.C.,  brought  good 
rather  than  evil  fortune  to  the  Jewish  nation.  The 
calm  and  prudent  Simon  took  his  place,  and  the 
last  years  of  his  life  witnessed  the  constant  growth  of 
freedom  and  prosperity  for  which  the  five  brethren,  of 
whom  he  was  now  the  last  survivor,  had  fought  so 
stoutly  for  twenty-five  years. 

Simon  succeeded  in  recovering  the  bones  of 
Jonathan,  and  erected  at  Modin  a  sepulchre  for  his 
lather,  mother,  and  brothers.  This  curious  monument 
has  now  disappeared,  but  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
as  one  of  the  greatest  architectural  triumphs  of  the 
nation.  Seven  pyramids  stood  over  the  seven  graves, 
and  cloisters  with  monoHths  and  bas-reliefs  surrounded 
the  tombs.  Ships  were  carved  on  the  walls  of  the 
monument  which  could  be  seen  from  the  sea,  and 
trophies  of  armour  were  also  represented.  It  would 
be  most  interesting  to  recover  the  remains  of  this 
important  building,  if  they  could  be  found.    Curiously 


Akra   Taken,  177 


enough,  a  very  fine  structural  tomb  has  been  discovered 
at  Modin  ;  but  the  crosses  on  the  tesselated  pavement, 
and  the  general  character  of  the  work,  show  it  to  be 
of  late  Christian  origin,  and  the  seven  pyramids  and 
seven  tombs  have  yet  to  be  found  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Simon's  first  care  was  to  strengthen  Judea,  which, 
after  the  repulse  of  Trypho,  became  once  more  a  free 
country.  He  built  up  the  frontier  fortresses,  and  gar- 
risoned and  provisioned  them.  Meantime,  Trypho 
had  killed  the  boy-king,  and  had  proclaimed  himself. 
Simon  entered  into  a  league  with  Demetrius,  who 
was  at  the  time  in  Cilicia,  and,  in  return  for  his 
proffered  assistance,  the  country  of  Judea  was 
declared  free  of  tribute  for  ever.  At  the  same 
time,  Gaza,  the  last  of  the  Philistine  towns  not 
conquered  by  the  Jews,  was  taken,  and  in  the  year 
141  B.C.,  on  the  23rd  day  of  the  second  month,  or 
about  the  middle  of  May,  the  Castle  of  Akra  at  last 
surrendered,  the  garrison  being  starved  out.  Joppa 
was  fortified  as  a  harbour,  a  little  later,  and  the 
league  with  the  Romans  was  renewed.  The  country 
became  rich,  and  hired  soldiers  were,  for  the  first  time 
in  Jewish  history,  employed  by  Simon.  From  the 
year  142  B.C.,  when  the  immunity  from  tribute  was 
acknowledged  by  Demetrius,  the  rightful  successor 
to  the  throne  of  the  Seleucldae,  the  Jews  reckoned 
the  first  year   of  their   independence,   and   thus   the 

M 


178  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

commencement  of  the  rule  of  Simon  saw  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  great  schemes  of  his  brother  Judas. 

The  knoll  on  which  the  Akra  Castle  had  stood  was 
levelled  by  Simon  after  the  capture  of  that  fortress, 
and  no  building  on  that  site  could  in  future  look  down 
on  the  Temple  hill.  The  rock  was  used  to  fill  up 
the  narrow  valley  east  of  the  Akra  hill. 

The  friendship  of  Rome  was  of  the  greatest  value 
to  the  Jews  at  this  period.  It  was  principally  because 
they  were  known  to  be  Roman  allies  that  Demetrius, 
forgiving  the  former  treachery  of  Jonathan,  was  now 
willing  to  confer  so  many  benefits  on  the  nation,  and 
this  fact  is  acknowledged  even  by  the  Jewish  historians 
of  the  period.  In  the  year  of  139  B.C.,  a  further 
privilege  was  granted  Simon,  that  of  coining  money 
in  his  own  name,  a  practical  recognition  of  his 
independence.  This  right  was  conferred  by  Antiochus 
Sidetes,  brother  of  Demetrius  Nicator;  but,  a  little 
later,  the  same  monarch,  after  having  defeated 
Trypho,  the  usurper,  at  the  maritime  city  of  Dora, 
situate  at  the  north  extremity  of  the  plain  of 
Sharon,  once  more  demanded  a  tribute  from  the  Jews 
of  500  talents,  or  else  the  surrender  of  Joppa  and 
Gezer,  and  the  right  to  garrison  Jerusalem. 

Thus  Simon,  who  had  fought  from  his  youth  up, 
found  himself  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  again 
obliged  to  resist  the  heathen.  He  refused  any  pay- 
ment for  the  cities  which  had  been  won  by  Jewish 


Battle  of  Cedron.  lyg 

bravery,  and  appointed  his  son,  John  Hyrcanus,  the 
governor  of  Gezer. 

Cendebeus,  a  general  of  Antiochus,  was  despatched 
to  attack  Judea.  Simon  sent  his  eldest  son  Judas 
and  his  second  son  Hyrcanus  to  resist  him,  being 
himself  too  old  to  take  the  field.  They  collected 
at  Modin  a  force  of  20,000  men,  and  marched  down 
to  the  plains.  This  is  the  first  action  in  which  the 
use  of  cavalry  by  the  Jews  is  noticed,  and  we 
are  thus  able  to  mark  the  advance  in  prosperity 
which  had  been  made  since  the  first  days  of  the 
revolt. 

Jamnia,  which  had  been  the  refuge  of  defeated 
armies  for  so  long,  was  still  in  the  power  of  the 
Greeks.  Cendebeus  fortified  it,  as  well  as  the  neigh- 
bouring town  of  Cedron  (now  Katrah),  which  stands 
over  the  corn  valley  of  Sorek  on  a  knoll  facing  the 
sandy  ridge  of  Makkedah.  The  Jews,  marching 
down  from  the  north,  boldly  crossed  the  deep 
trench  in  the  middle  of  the  valley,  through  which 
a  sluggish  stream  flows  down  towards  Jamnia,  and 
advanced  with  their  scanty  cavalry  in  the  centre 
and  the  infantry  on  either  wing.  The  holy  trumpets 
were  blown,  and  the  attack  had  apparently  all  the 
fury  of  the  early  victories  of  Judas.  Cendebeus 
was  defeated,  and  Cedron  was  taken,  the  defeated 
host  being  pursued  as  far  as  Ashdod,  which  was  also 
burnt,  for  the  third  time  in  thirty  years. 


i8o  yudas  MaccabcBus. 

Simon,  the  last  of  the  five  brethren,  was  not,  how- 
ever, destined  to  die  in  his  bed.  His  four  brothers 
had  all  perished  by  violence,  two  in  the  field  and  two 
by  treachery.  The  same  fate  overtook  him  in  his  old 
age.  His  daughter  was  married  to  a  certain  Ptolemy, 
who  was  made  governor  of  the  Jericho  district. 
This  man  conceived  the  ambition  of  destroying  the 
whole  Hasmonean  family,  and  of  succeeding  to  their 
position.  He  entertained  Simon  and  two  of  his  sons, 
Judas,  the  eldest,  and  Mattathias,  the  youngest,  at 
a  banquet  in  the  fortress  of  Doch,  which  stood  above 
the  beautiful  spring  welling  up  beneath  the  steep  cliffs 
of  the  mountain  which  overhangs  Jericho.  Simon 
and  his  sons  had  feasted  and  "  drunk  largely,"  when 
armed  men  were  introduced,  and  the  venerable  High 
Priest  was  slain  with  his  sons  and  servants. 

The  plot,  however,  was  not  entirely  successful,  for 
John  Hyrcanus,  the  second  son  of  Simon,  was  at 
Gezer,  and  escaped  the  massacre.  He  no  sooner 
heard  of  it  than  he  hastened  to  secure  Jerusalem,  and 
to  put  to  death  the  myrmidons  of  Ptolemy  who  were 
sent  to  kill  him. 

Thus,  in  the  year  135  B.C.,  the  last  of  the  five 
famous  brothers  was  slain.  He  had  been  the  only 
one  to  see  the  complete  fulfilment  of  the  hopes  of 
freedom  which  Judas  had  been  the  first  to  entertain  ; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  time  of  his  successor,  Hyrcanus, 
that  the  summit  of  Jewish  prosperity  was  reached. 


Antiochiis  Sidetes.  i8i 

John  Hyrcanus  succeeded  in  troublous  times.  He 
had  first  to  attack  Ptolemy,  who  held  prisoner  the 
wife  of  Simon,  and  endeavoured  to  make  him  desist 
from  the  siege  of  Doch  by  threatening  to  kill  his 
mother.  The  event  occurred  in  a  Sabbatic  year,  and 
the  new  High  Priest  rigorously  observed  the  Law  by 
relinquishing  the  siege.  Ptolemy  then  killed  his 
captives,  and  afterwards  fled  to  Philadelphia. 

In  the  same  year,  Antiochus  Sidetes,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  Jewish  customs,  attacked  Judea  and 
besieged  Jerusalem.  The  precedent  introduced  by 
the  Hasmoneans  allowed,  however,  of  defensive  opera- 
tions during  the  Sabbath  and  Sabbatic  year,  and  the 
city  was  stoutly  defended.  A  truce  was  obtained  by 
Hyrcanus  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  and  the 
moderation  shown  by  Antiochus,  who  sent  presents 
to  the  Temple  during  the  cessation  of  hostilities, 
produced  so  good  an  effect,  when  contrasted  with  the 
intolerance  of  his  namesake,  Epiphancs,  that  a  peace 
was  arranged,  and  John  agreed  to  pay  tribute  for 
Joppa,  Gezer,  and  other  border  towns  :  he,  however, 
stoutly  refused  to  admit  a  garrison  into  Jerusalem, 
and  succeeded  in  carrying  his  point,  giving  instead 
500  talents,  and  hostages  for  his  fidelity  to  the  new 
agreement. 

In  the  terms  of  this  treaty  we  mark  the  great 
advance  made  by  the  Jews.  Had  such  proposals 
been  suggested  in  the  earlier  period  of  the  revolt,  the 


1 82  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

generals  of  Epiphanes  would  have  treated  them  with 
contempt.  The  suzerains  of  Antioch  had  now  been 
forced  to  recognise  the  national  vitality  of  the  Jews, 
and  to  acknowledge  that  no  permanent  peace  could  be 
expected  in  Judea  unless  the  nation  were  left  free  to 
follow  its  own  laws,  and  to  obey  its  native  chiefs. 
Jerusalem  might  be  reached  after  a  hard-fought  cam- 
paign, but  could  not  be  permanently  held  without 
immense  expenditure  of  men  and  money.  It  was 
evidently  a  wiser  policy  to  avoid  the  risk  of  incurring 
the  wrath  of  Rome  by  establishing  friendly  relations 
with  her  allies  ;  and  all  that  could  now  be  expected 
from  the  semi-independent  Prince  of  Judea  was 
a  yearly  tribute  and  a  contingent  of  trained 
soldiers. 

It  is  said  that,  on  this  occasion,  Hyrcanus  opened 
the  tomb  of  David  and  took  out  3000  talents,  with 
part  of  which  he  paid  Antiochus.  But  the  story 
seems  very  doubtful,  and  contrary  to  Jewish  habit. 
It  was  perhaps  a  tradition  by  which  the  common 
people  accounted  for  the  wealth  of  the  Hasmonean 
family. 

The  history  of  Hyrcanus  for  the  next  twenty- 
five  years  is  one  of  continually-growing  prosperity. 
The  rule  of  the  wise  Antiochus  terminated  in  129 
B.C.,  when  he  was  slain  in  battle.  Then  in  three 
years'  time,  three  kings  succeeded  one  another  in 
Antioch,  and  the  rapidly-increasing' weakness  of  the 


The  Summit  of  Jewish  Prosperity.      183 

Seleucidae  allowed  the  Jews  to  become  practically 
independent. 

Hyrcanus  attacked  and  destroyed  the  city  of 
Samaria  in  129  B.C.  He  levelled  the  temple  on 
Gerizim  to  the  ground.  He  conquered  the  Idumeans 
on  the  south,  and  forced  them  to  accept  circumcision. 
He  retook  Joppa,  Gezer,  Adora,  and  Mareshah,  and 
he  obtained  the  recognition  by  the  Romans  of  the 
first  of  these  as  a  Jewish  port.  In  the  year  1 14  B.C. 
he  became  entirely  independent,  and  thus,  half-a- 
century  after  the  death  of  Judas  Maccabaeus,  the 
summit  of  Jewish  prosperity  was  attained  under  the 
wise  rule  of  his  famous  nephew. 

It  will,  perhaps,  have  been  clear  that  the  main 
objects  for  which  the  Jews  strove  throughout  this 
period  were  those  to  which  Judas  had  attached  im- 
portance, namely,  the  securing  of  the  frontiers  and 
of  the  great  passes  by  fortresses,  the  destruction  of 
the  foreign  garrison  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  treaty  with  Rome  which  might  overawe  the 
Asiatic  heathen  world.  This  policy,  first  inaugurated 
by  Judas,  was  pursued  by  his  successors,  and  to  it  the 
freedom  and  prosperity  of  the  country  were  due.  With 
success,  however,  the  ambition  of  the  nation  enlarged 
its  sphere  of  action,  and  thus  the  destruction  of 
Samaria,  the  conquest  of  Philistia,  and  the  acquisition 
of  a  port  at  Joppa,  were  important  results,  scarcely 
contemplated  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  rule  of  Judas. 


184  Judas  Maccabceus. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  thus  traced  the 
growth  of  independence  and  the  revival  of  national 
prosperity.  It  remains  to  consider  the  great  historical 
results  which  followed  the  full  attainment  of  freedom, 
and  the  causes  which  led  to  the  rapid  loss  of  a  liberty 
so  hardly  won. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

THE   RESULTS   OF   INDEPENDENCE. 

'T^HE  summit  of  Jewish  prosperity  consequent  on 
■*■  the  revolt  of  Modin  was  reached,  as  shown 
in  the  last  chapter,  about  half-a-century  after  that 
event.  We  have  seen  that  even  the  rude  shock  which 
was  suffered  by  the  infant  state  in  the  loss  of  the 
patriotic  founder,  Judas  Maccabaeus,  was  not  fatal ; 
and  that,  in  consequence  of  the  alliance  which  he  had 
contracted  with  the  powerful  Roman  republic,  the 
independence  which  he  had  won  for  his  country  was 
preserved  as  long  as  that  country  was  worthy  of  it, 
and  as  long  as  his  brothers  and  their  immediate 
successor  displayed  the  same  courage,  the  same 
wisdom,  and  the  same  singleness  of  heart  by  means 
of  which  Judas  had  freed  the  land  from  its  foreign 
tyrants. 

The  change  which  had  been  wrought  in  the  half- 
century  of  which  the  history  has  been  sketched,  was 
far  greater  and   more  marked   than   that  which   the 


1 86  Judas  MaccabcBus. 

lapse  of  time  had  effected  in  the  course  of  the  three 
preceding  centuries. 

Not  only  were  the  Jews  now  independent,  and  free 
even  from  tribute,  ruled  by  their  own  High  Priests,  and 
governed  according  to  the  Law  of  Moses,  but  the 
wealth  of  the  country  had  increased,  and  the  social 
condition  of  its  inhabitants  had  also  been  materially 
modified.  The  limits  of  the  Httle  Judean  state  in  the 
most  prosperous  days  of  the  life  of  Judas  had  been 
confined,  as  has  been  shown,  to  the  mountains  round 
Jerusalem.  But  the  conquests  of  Jonathan,  Simon, 
and  Hyrcanus  had  added  to  this  original  territory 
rich  lands  in  the  lower  hills,  in  the  fertile  Philistine 
plains,  and  in  the  well-watered  mountains  of  Hebron. 

Along  the  plain  of  Sharon,  Strato's  Tower  (after- 
wards Caesarea),  with  Apollonia  and  Joppa,  were  now 
counted  as  Jewish  towns.  In  Philistia,  Ashdod, 
Ekron,  Ascalon,  and  Gaza,  with  the  three  towns  of 
Anthedon,  Raphia,  and  Rhinocolura,  south  of  Gaza, 
had  been  won  ;  in  the  low  hills  east  of  Philistia, 
Mareshah  and  the  hill-fortress  of  Adoraim ;  in 
Samaria,  the  three  border  towns  of  Lydda,  Apherema, 
and  Ramathem  ;  in  Lower  Galilee,  Tabor,  Carmel, 
and  the  district  of  Bethshean.  On  the  east  of  Jordan, 
Moab,  Gilead,  and  Bashan  had  been  overrun,  and 
Seleucia,  Gamala,  Heshbon,  Madeba,  Semba,  Oronas, 
Gelithon.  Zara,  and  Pella  were  garrisoned. 

Thus  the  borders  of  the  land  were  extended  until 


Increased  Wealth  of  Jtidea.  1S7 

the  Jewish  possessions  were  five  times  as  great  as  in 
the  year  164  B.C.,  and  the  boundaries  seem  to  have 
been  almost  the  same  which  we  find  given  by  the 
Tosaphta  in  the  second  century  of  our  era,  though, 
perhaps,  slightly  curtailed  on  the  north  and  in  the 
extreme  south. 

Not  only  were  these  boundaries  enlarged,  but  the 
neighbouring  tribes  beyond  them  had  been  brought 
into  subjection.  The  Samaritans  had  been  conquered 
and  their  Temple  was  destroyed  ;  the  Idumeans  had 
been  obliged  to  accept  circumcision.  Yet  more 
important  was  the  acquisition  of  a  seaboard,  and  of 
the  hardly-won  port  of  Joppa ;  for  although,  as 
previously  shown,  the  Jews  do  not  appear  to  have 
been  addicted  to  trade  even  so  late  as  the  Herodian 
period,  still  the  country  was  opened  to  foreign 
merchants,  and  communication  was  established  with 
the  Levantine  and  Egyptian  coast  towns. 

Nor  are  indications  wanting  to  prove  that  the 
wealth  of  the  country  had  materially  increased 
during  the  period  of  increasing  prosperity.  Simon 
and  Hyrcanus  were  rich  men,  remarkable  for  their 
treasure  of  gold  and  silver  plate.  They  were  able  to 
equip  and  maintain  a  large  body  of  mercenaries 
at  their  own  expense,  and  a  golden  shield  of  1000 
pounds  weight  was  sent  by  Simon  to  Rome.  We 
find  also  in  the  year  139  B.C.  the  first  mention  of  the 
existence  of  cavalry  among  the  Jews ;  and  those  who 


1 88  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

are  familiar  with  the  modern  native  inhabitants  of 
Palestine  well  know  that  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  horses  is  the  first  sign  of  increased  wealth  in  the 
country. 

Nor  must  the  introduction  of  a  native  coinage, 
and  of  a  special  Jewish  money,  in  which  the  Temple 
tax  was  paid,  be  forgotten  as  an  indication  of  a  settled 
and  prosperous  condition  of  the  land. 

Such  being  the  successful  outcome  of  that  ap- 
parently unimportant  insurrection  which  was  initiated 
by  one  impulsive  and  unpremeditated  act  of  the 
aged  Mattathias  at  Modin,  we  may  well  inquire 
how  it  came  to  pass  that  the  success  was  so  transient, 
and  why  it  was  that,  within  a  century,  the  Jews  were 
once  more  a  conquered  nation,  ruled  by  foreigners, 
and  not  destined  to  become  permanently  a  free 
people. 

It  was  indeed  a  glorious  historical  opportunity 
which  the  nation  allowed  to  slip  by.  It  was  a  time 
when  the  power  of  the  Seleucidse  was  no  longer  any- 
thing more  than  a  name,  and  when  the  shadow  of 
Rome  had  as  yet  scarcely  touched  the  coasts  of  Asia — 
when  the  energies  of  other  nations  were  absorbed 
by  internal  struggles,  or  by  preparations  for  future 
action.  It  was  thus  a  time  most  favourable  for  the 
establishment  and  consolidation  of  a  great  Hebrew 
monarchy,  which  might  have  played  a  part  in  the 
politics  of  the  world,  and  have  aspired  to  inherit  the 


Decline  of  the  Nation.  189 

Asiatic  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  the 
empire  of  the  Seleucidae,  which  was  falling  so  fast 
into  ruins. 

It  was  not  by  the  inroads  of  foreign  conquerors  that 
the  liberty  so  hardly  won  was  snatched  from  the  Jews  : 
it  was  through  their  own  incapacity  for  freedom  that 
they  became  once  more  subjected  to  a  foreign 
despotism.  The  corruption  of  the  native  princes,  the 
violence  of  internal  dissensions,  and  the  unsuitability 
of  archaic  institutions  to  a  modified  social  condition 
of  the  nation,  were  the  true  causes  of  the  decline  and 
fall  of  the  independent  Jewish  monarchy. 

The  Jews  may  be  compared  to  the  French  in  one 
respect,  namely,  that  they  are  a  people  who  require 
a  master.  From  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  days  of 
Herod,  they  were  ever  a  "stiff-necked"  race.  Their 
times  of  prosperity  coincided  with  the  lives  of  indi- 
vidual rulers  of  special  genius,  rather  than  with  any 
period  of  national  revival  of  energy  and  progress  ;  and 
thus  their  history  is  one  of  constant  vicissitudes,  and 
their  good  fortune  has  always  been  mainly  dependent 
on  the  personal  character  of  their  rulers. 

The  story  of  the  decline  of  Jewish  independence  is 
a  melancholy  record  of  fatal  infatuation  and  mis- 
directed energy  in  a  proud  and  gifted  people ;  but  it 
is  also  the  history  of  a  most  important  and  interesting 
period,  for  in  it  we  trace  the  origin  of  that  special 
condition  of  the  nation,  and  of  that  special  develop- 


I90  Judas  MaccabcEUS, 

ment  of  the  national  religion,  which  prepared  the  way 
for  Christianity.  The  history  of  the  first  century 
before  Christ  is  the  sequel  to  that  of  the  war  of 
independence  ;  and  a  sketch  of  the  events  immediately 
succeeding  the  full  attainment  of  freedom,  and  of  the 
rapid  development  of  those  religious  schools  which 
existed  in  the  time  of  our  Lord,  is  a  fitting  appendix 
to  the  account  which  has  been  given  of  the  life  and 
times  of  Judas  Maccabaeus. 

The  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  early 
Hasmonean  period  was  the  expectant  attitude  of  the 
nation.  It  was  a  prophetless  age,  and  a  time  when 
the  nation  was  eagerly  looking  forward  to  the  appear- 
ance of  a  new  prophet,  a  divinely-commissioned 
teacher,  who  should  instruct  the  people  as  to  their 
future.  This  expectant  attitude  was  shared  by  Judas 
and  his  brothers.  They  made  no  attempt  to  usurp 
any  permanent  authority,  and  claimed  only  to  be  the 
dictators  chosen  until  the  divinely-appointed  leader 
should  appear.  They  succeeded,  indeed,  to  the  vacant 
office  of  High  Priest,  but  their  ambition  never 
prompted  them  to  claim  the  title  of  King. 

In  the  last  years  of  the  rule  of  Hyrcanus  a  change 
occurred  in  this  expectant  condition.  The  nation 
had  become  prosperous ;  the  Hasmonean  house  had 
become  rich.  The  sons  of  Hyrcanus  represented  the 
third  generation  of  hereditary  chiefs  and  rulers,  and 
their  aged  father  was,  in  fact,  though  not  by  title,  the 


Hyrcanus  and  the  Pharisees.  191 

independent  King  of  Judah,  no  less  than  the  religious 
head  of  the  nation.  He  coined  money  in  his  own 
name,  he  retained  hired  soldiers  at  his  own  expense, 
he  lacked  only  the  name  of  king,  and,  though  too 
wise  to  assume  it,  he  yet  became  obnoxious  in  his 
last  years  to  the  suspicions  of  those  of  the  more 
zealous  of  the  Chasidim,  who  perceived  that  the 
Hasmoneans  had,  in  fact,  combined  in  one  the  two 
dignities  of  prince  and  pontiff. 

The  original  party  of  the  Chasidim,  or  "  pious,"  had 
developed  into  the  strong  sect  of  the  Pharisees,  repre- 
senting the  views  of  the  populace  and  of  the  more 
fanatical  lower  classes.  The  original  party  of  the 
Karaites  had  also  grown  into  the  Sadducean  and 
Baitocean  sects,  representing  the  religion  of  the  higher 
class  and  the  calm  philosophy  of  the  better  educated. 
The  popular  party  was  the  one  which  had  raised  the 
Hasmoneans  to  their  powerful  position  ;  the  educated 
party  was  that  to  which  they  most  naturally  inclined 
when  their  position  was  won. 

Thus,  even  before  the  death  of  the  venerated 
Hyrcanus,  a  coldness  had  arisen  between  the  ruling 
family  and  the  party  to  which  it  owed  its  rise.  The 
cause  is  most  clearly  explained  by  Josephus,  who 
relates  that  Hyrcanus  demanded  of  the  Pharisees 
whether  they  could  accuse  him  of  having  in  any  way 
departed  from  the  Law.  The  general  answer  was  a 
commendation  of  all   his   actions ;    but   one  of  the 


192  Judas  MaccabcBUs, 

younger  and  less  temperate  of  the  Pharisees  reminded 
Hyrcanus  that  he  held  the  office  of  High  Priest  as 
well  as  that  of  civil  governor,  and  advised  him  to 
resign  the  former,  to  which  he  was  not  legally  entitled, 
his  mother  having  been  a  slave. 

This  imputation  Hyrcanus  considered  to  be  an 
insult,  and  he  was  yet  further  enraged  by  the  very 
lenient  view  which  the  Pharisees,  as  a  body,  took 
of  the  offence  committed  by  Eleazar.  He  therefore 
separated  himself  from  this  party,  and  appears  to 
have  even  punished  those  who  adhered  to  the  innumer- 
able observances  which  these  Puritans  had  imposed  on 
the  nation.  Thus  the  Sadducees  once  more  recovered 
the  ascendency  which  they  had  possessed  before  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great. 

In  this  episode  we  see  the  first  symptoms  of  national 
disintegration,  and  the  first  cause  of  the  decay  of  the 
Hasmonean  power.  The  populfir  party  saw  with 
displeasure  the  assumption  of  actual  hereditary  and 
royal  power  by  the  family  of  which  the  members 
had  been  hitherto  considered  merely  as  temporary 
leaders.  They  were  also  shocked  by  the  innova- 
tion on  the  old  constitution  in  the  combination  of 
the  two  offices  of  priest  and  king  in  a  single  person. 
The  quarrel  of  the  Hasmonean  family  with  the 
Pharisees  resulted  not  only  in  the  overthrow  of  that 
illustrious  house,  but  also  in  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish 
nation. 


Change  in  the  Coiftage.  193 

In  the  year  106  B.C.  John  Hyrcanus  died.  His 
name  was  held  in  afTectionate  and  reverent  remem- 
brance by  the  nation  as  the  last  great  ruler  of  the 
Hasmonean  family.  In  later  times,  he  was  credited 
with  having  been  favoured  with  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
and  several  predictions  made  by  him  are  recorded  by 
Josephus,  including  the  sad  presage  of  the  corruption 
and  ruin  of  his  house. 

At  this  time  we  meet  with  a  significant  change  in 
the  Jewish  coinage.  The  coins  of  Hyrcanus  bore  the 
simple  inscription,  "  Johanan,  the  High  Priest,"  in  the 
ancient  Jewish  character ;  but  the  coins  of  his  son, 
Alexander  Jannaeus,  bear  on  the  one  side  "Jonathan, 
the  King,"  in  Hebrew,  and  on  the  other,  in  Greek, 
"  Alexander,  the  King."  In  this  change  we  see  not 
only  the  formal  assumption  of  regal  power,  which  was 
made  by  Aristobulus  and  Alexander  immediately 
after  their  father's  death,  but,  yet  further,  a  falling 
away  from  the  original  spirit  of  the  Hasmonean 
family,  in  the  use  of  Greek  language,  which  caused 
the  title  of  Philhellen  to  be  given  to  the  unhappy 
Aristobulus. 

Hyrcanus  appears  to  have  known  the  worthlessness 
of  his  sons,  and  to  have  felt  the  necessity  of  conform- 
ing to  the  national  prejudices  in  the  separation  of  the 
civil  and  religious  offices  which  he  had  held  simul- 
taneously. Thus,  while  Aristobulus  succeeded  him 
as    High    Priest,   the   civil   supremacy    was   left    by 

N 


194  Jtidas  Maccabceus, 

Plyrcanus  to  his  wife,  the  mother  of  his  five 
sons. 

But  on  the  death  of  Hyrcanus,  the  smouldering 
dissensions  of  the  two  opposing  parties  burst  into 
flame.  The  sons  threw  off  the  cloak  which  had 
covered  their  ambition,  and  Aristobulus,  after  im- 
prisoning his  mother,  boldly  proclaimed  himself 
King  without  relinquishing  his  office  of  High  Priest. 
Intrigues  and  counter-intrigues  followed,  and  within 
a  year  the  miserable  usurper  of  the  throne  of  David 
died,  after  having  murdered  his  favourite  brother, 
Antigonus,  and  after  having  starved  his  mother  to 
death. 

Alexander  Jannaeus,  the  third  son  of  Hyrcanus, 
succeeded  to  his  brother's  office  of  High  Priest,  to  his 
brother's  childless  wife,  and  to  his  brother's  title  of 
king.  He  reigned,  indeed,  twenty-seven  years,  but 
the  whole  period  was  passed  in  a  fierce  struggle 
against  the  Pharisees,  in  which  the  fortunes  of  war 
fluctuated  from  side  to  side ;  and  although  in  the  end 
Alexander  was  successful,  he  felt  that  the  struggle 
must  result  in  the  destruction  of  his  house,  unless  his 
successors  were  prepared  to  bow  to  the  national  will. 
By  his  dying  advice,  Salome,  his  widow,  made  peace 
with  the  Pharisees,  and  internal  dissensions  were  for  a 
moment  calmed. 

The  corruption  of  the  Hasmonean  family  was  the 
second   great   cause  of  the  downfall  of  the  nation. 


Decay  of  the  Has^nonean  House.        195 

Judas  and  his  brethren  had  been  remarkable  for  their 
patriotism  and  for  their  self-abnegation.  Hyrcanus, 
in  the  .next  generation,  aroused  the  jealousy  of  the 
stricter  interpreters  of  the  Law,  but  was,  nevertheless, 
revered  and  loved.  The  degeneracy  of  his  sons  was 
shown  in  the  sudden  assumption  of  royal  rank  to 
which  they  had  no  claim.  In  their  days,  Jew  was 
arrayed  against  Jew,  and  foreign  mercenaries  were 
employed  by  both  parties.  But  the  quarrel  was  for 
the  moment  closed  by  the  wise  concessions  of  Salome, 
and  the  last  disgrace  was  reserved  for  the  fourth 
generation,  when,  in  the  year  64  B.C.,  the  heathen 
Pompey  was  called  in  to  arbitrate  between  the  miser- 
able sons  of  Alexander  Jannaeus,  Hyrcanus  and 
Aristobulus.  The  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Romans  occurred  during  the  following  year. 

It  was  thus  that  the  fairest  hopes  of  the  nation 
were  disappointed  in  the  decay  of  the  great  family 
whose  first  representatives  had  delivered  Israel.  The 
history  of  these  internal  dissensions  is  in  itself  of  little 
interest ;  but  the  effect  on  the  temper  of  the  nation, 
and  on  the  national  hopes  for  the  future,  was  of  no 
small  importance. 

There  is  something  strangely  pathetic  in  the 
unwavering  and  passionate  faith  which  the  Jews, 
through  all  ages,  have  held  so  firmly  in  the 
final  triumph  of  their  race  over  the  surrounding 
heathen,  and  in  the   future  time  of  happiness  and 


196  Judas  Maccabceus, 

prosperity  to  which,  even  in  the  darkest  years  of 
affliction,  they  have  ever  looked  steadily  forward. 
Again  and  again  those  bright  hopes  seemed  about  to 
be  fulfilled.  In  the  time  of  Ezra,  the  scattered  Israel 
of  the  captivity  was  re-assembled  only  to  fall  under 
the  heavy  yoke  of  the  Seleucidse.  In  the  days  of 
Judas,  the  nation  struggled  successfully  for  freedom, 
and  the  expected  Prophet  was  awaited  eagerly ;  but 
time  passed  on,  earthly  ambition  corrupted  the 
purity  of  patriotism,  internal  feuds  weakened  the 
liberated  nation,  and  the  strong  arm  of  Rome  crushed 
Israel  down  once  more  into  bondage.  Yet,  even  after 
this  second  bitter  disappointment,  the  Jews  looked 
forward  with  undiminished  eagerness  to  the  future, 
and  consoled  themselves  under  defeat  and  in  decay 
with  the  hope  of  a  future  King  whose  right  to  the 
throne  of  David  should  be  beyond  dispute. 

The  Hasmoneans  had  been  guilty  of  two  innova- 
tions :  they  had  combined  the  two  offices  of  priest 
and  king,  and  they  had  assumed  the  royal  dignity, 
which  belonged,  in  Jewish  estimation,  only  to 
the  House  of  David.  Still,  the  family  was  of  pure 
Jewish  stock,  descendants  of  Aaron,  and  immediate 
successors  of  the  great  deliverer  of  Israel,  Judas 
Maccabaeus.  But  when  the  Hasmonean  House  had 
fallen  into, decay,  and  the  crafty  Idumean  Herod  had 
assumed  the  power  which  they  had  failed  to  maintain, 
there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  in  the  Jewish  mind  as 


The  King' Messiah,  iq7 

to  the  usurpation  of  a  title  which  belonged  only  to 
the  descendants  of  David.  Herod  was  not  even  a 
Jew,  and  neither  the  commands  of  Moses  nor  the 
predictions  of  the  Prophets  could  be  supposed  in  any 
way  to  refer  to  him. 

Thus  the  expectation  of  a  future  native  King,  which 
had  perhaps  first  sprung  up  at  the  time  of  the  quarrel 
between  Hyrcanus  and  the  Pharisees,  waxed  stronger 
and  stronger,  until,  by  the  time  of  Christ,  it  had 
completely  taken  possession  of  the  heart  of  the 
people.  The  expectancy  of  the  days  of  Judas  was 
the  expectancy  of  an  immediate  restoration  of  the 
Theocracy  under  a  prophet  divinely  inspired  and  of 
indisputable  authority.  But  that  mood  of  the  national 
mind  passed  away,  and  as  the  learned  pored  more 
earnestly  over  the  writings  of  the  Prophets,  they 
became  more  deeply  imbued  with  the  conviction  that 
a  future  King  of  the  lineage  of  David  was  promised 
to  them.  It  was  no  son  of  Hasmon  that  Isaiah 
described  as  a  "  rod  from  the  stem  of  Jesse,"  and  it 
was  no  Gentile  Herod  that  Jeremiah  intended  in 
speaking  of  the  "  branch  of  the  House  of  David." 

The  earliest  Jewish  literature  in  which  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  King-Messiah  forms  a  conspicuous  feature 
appears  about  the  time  of  the  death  of  Hyrcanus. 
The  Book  of  Enoch,  so  remarkable  for  its  Messianic 
predictions,  is  dated  about  that  period.  In  it  the 
Chasidim  are  represented   by  the  symbol  of  lambs. 


1 98  Judas  MaccabcBUS, 

Jonathan  is  the  lamb  slain  by  ravens,  and  Hyrcanus 
is  supposed  to  be  intended  by  the  great  horn  shooting 
forth  later.  In  the  year  124  B.C.,  the  earliest  Sibylline 
book  was  written,  the  influence  of  which,  about  the 
time  of  Christ,  we  trace  in  Virgil's  Georgics.  A  crop 
of  similar  literature  sprang  up  between  the  time  of 
Hyrcanus  and  the  Christian  era,  and  the  nation  was 
consoled  for  its  loss  of  a  great  opportunity  by  the 
promise  of  an  immediate  deliverance,  and  of  per- 
manent prosperity  to  follow. 

The  subject  of  the  future  King  was  studied  with  the 
same  minute  care  and  attention  which  characterised 
the  whole  of  the  Pharisaic  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
In  the  Targums,  which,  though  committed  to  writing 
much  later,  were  yet  founded  on  ancient  traditional 
interpretation  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  we  find 
ample  evidence  of  the  eagerness  with  which  the  Jews 
seized  on  the  faintest  indications  of  prophetic  promise 
of  a  Messiah. 

Of  the  seventy  passages  in  Scripture  which  were 
held  to  be  of  Messianic  character,  only  two  contained 
the  word  Messiah,  and  in  one  of  these  exceptional 
passages  it  is  coupled  with  the  name  of  Cyrus.  In 
the  large  majority  of  cases,  it  is  very  difficult  to  trace 
the  connection  which  existed  in  Jewish  thought 
between  the  words  of  the  original  and  the  additional 
comment  of  the  Targum. 

It  is  also  striking  to  find  that,  in  their  eagerness  to 


The  Book  of  Daniel.  199 

refer  every  promise  of  good  to  the  immediate  future, 
the  Jews  classed  even  those  passages  in  the  prophets 
which  distinctly  and  by  name  speak  of  Cyrus  and 
Zerubbabel  as  being  predictions  of  the  future  Anointed 
King.  It  is  yet  more  remarkable  that  they  carefully 
avoided  any  comment  on  those  passages  to  which  the 
Apostles  of  Christ  afterwards  appealed  with  so  much 
force,  and  which  represent  the  chosen  One  as  a 
man  of  sorrows,  despised  and  rejected,  cut  off 
from  the  land  of  the  living,  and  made  an  offering 
for  sin. 

The  great  influence  which  was  exerted  on  the 
nation  by  the  Book  of  Daniel,  is  evidenced  by  the 
frequent  references  in  the  gospels  to  its  predictions, 
and  by  the  number  of  later  works  which  imitate  its 
style ;  but  the  Jews  have  never  classed  this  book 
with  the  writings  of  the  earlier  prophets.  Their 
prophetic  canon  closed  with  Malachi ;  and  Daniel  was 
classed  in  the  third  and  inferior  category  of  Hagio- 
grapha,  with  the  poetic  books,  and  the  later  histories 
subsequent  to  the  time  of  the  captivity.  The  Book 
of  Daniel  contained  a  distinct  prophecy,  following  the 
detailed  history  of  the  overthrow  of  Antiochus  Epi- 
phanes — a  prophecy  of  Messiah  the  Prince,  who 
should  be  cut  off  after  seventy  Sabbatic  years.  It  is 
a  most  suggestive  fact  that,  on  this  passage,  there  is 
no  Messianic  Targum.  The  Jew  consoled  himself 
with  a  passionate  belief  in  the  future  glory  of  Messiah, 


200  Judas  MaccabcBUs, 

and  shut  his  eyes  resolutely  to  any  intimation  of  the 
rejection  of  that  Messiah  by  the  chosen  people. 

The  expectation  of  a  future  King  of  the  line  of 
David  was  the  immediate  outcome  of  the  decadence 
of  the  great  Hasmonean  family.  The  rise  and  pros- 
perity of  that  family,  on  the  other  hand,  fostered 
the  development  of  the  great  sect  of  the  Pharisees, 
and  of  the  monastic  spirit  which  characterised  the 
Essenes.  Both  these  sects  exerted  an  influence  on 
the  infancy  of  Christianity,  and  they  were  thus  im- 
portant results  of  the  period  of  independence. 

With  the  triumph  of  the  Chasidim  under  Judas,  and 
with  the  death  of  Onias  and  the  flight  of  his  son  to 
Egypt,  the  heretical  school  of  the  Mizraimites  dis- 
appeared from  Palestine.  The  orthodox  Jews  who 
remained  in  the  country  were  all  agreed  in  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  accepting  the  Law  of  Moses  as 
the  only  rule  of  life,  and  in  rejecting  every  innovation 
derived  from  foreign  sources. 

There  were,  however,  many  points  of  view  from 
which  that  Law  might  be  regarded.  It  might  be 
regarded  as  a  civil  and  religious  code,  prescribing 
certain  duties  and  prohibiting  certain  crimes.  It 
might  be  considered  as  an  inspired  work,  containing 
all  that  was  necessary  for  salvation,  and  divinely 
ordained  to  be  for  ever  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the 
nation.  Or,  again,  its  principles  might  be  accepted, 
and  rules  founded  on  them  might  be  taught,  fitted  for 


The  Sadducees.  201 


the  more  advanced  civilisation  and  more  complex 
social  condition  of  the  people.  Thus,  while  all  the 
Palestinian  Jews  agreed  in  the  acceptance  of  the  Law 
as  divine  in  origin,  and  destined  to  endure  through  all 
time,  various  schools  arose  which  took  various  views 
of  the  spirit  in  which  the  Law  should  be  studied. 

The  more  ancient  school,  that  of  the  Karaites,  and 
of  the  earlier  High  Priests  after  Ezra,  contented  itself 
with  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  commands  of 
Moses.  What  was  written  in  the  Law  they  obeyed 
literally,  neither  adding  to  nor  diminishing  from  its 
injunctions.  This  was  the  spirit  of  the  better  class  of 
the  Sadducees.  They  held  that  any  intelligent  man 
could  understand  the  plain  letter  of  the  Law ;  they 
consequently  never  implicitly  followed  any  leader,  and 
were  in  the  habit  of  referring  back,  each  for  himself, 
to  the  written  Scripture.  All  their  tenets  were  in 
accord  with  this  frame  of  mind.  They  looked  forward 
to  the  temporal  blessings  promised  by  Moses,  and  to 
the  temporal  punishments  which  he  had  predicted  as 
the  results  of  disobedience.  They  held  that  they  were 
themselves  responsible  for  their  own  actions,  and  that 
God  could  not  be  considered  the  author  of  the  evil 
which  such  as  disobeyed  His  plain  commands  brought 
on  themselves. 

They  found  in  the  Law  no  doctrines  as  to  the 
spiritual  world,  and  their  views  concerning  it  were 
accordingly  indistinct.     The  more   intellectual  were 


202  Judas  MaccabcBus, 

content  to  remain  in  an  attitude  of  philosophic  doubt 
on  a  subject  with  regard  to  which  Moses  had  taught 
nothing  ;  the  more  ignorant,  or  narrow-minded,  found 
it  easiest  to  deny  altogether  the  possibility  of  a  future 
life  not  revealed  by  the  great  Law-giver. 

Such  were  the  tenets  of  the  literalists.  It  was  the 
religion  of  the  prosperous,  the  powerful,  and  the 
cultivated.  To  those  who  had  riches,  it  was  easy  to 
believe  that  they  had  received  the  blessings  promised 
for  obedience  in  this  life ;  those  who  had  happiness  in 
this  world  were  less  anxious  to  look  forward  to  the 
world  to  come.  And  thus  Josephus  tells  us  that  the 
Sadducees  were  "  able  to  persuade  none  but  the  rich." 

The  mass  of  the  people  were  neither  happy  nor 
rich ;  their  piety  was  not  rewarded  by  the  promised 
blessings  of  land,  fruit,  and  victory,  and  they  stood 
sorely  in  need  of  a  comforting  hope  of  future 
recompense. 

It  was  for  this  simple  reason  that  the  Pharisees 
attained  such  complete  mastery  over  the  popular 
mind.  They  taught  those  doctrines  which  naturally 
most  fascinated  the  poor.  They  offered  themselves 
as  leaders  whom  the  ignorant  might  follow  with 
implicit  faith  ;  they  surrounded  the  Law  with  imposing 
ceremonial,  calculated  to  inspire  awe  and  respect ; 
they  pointed  out  to  the  unfortunate  and  the  oppressed 
a  glorious  future  of  eternal  happiness. 

The  spirit  of  the  Pharisaic  school  Was  in  full  accord 


The  Pharisees.  203 


with  the  general  tendency  of  the  Semitic  mind.  They 
surrounded  the  figure  of  Moses  with  a  halo  of  sanctity, 
and  inculcated  the  same  veneration  in  descending 
order,  as  due  to  his  recognised  successors  and  inter- 
preters, down  to  the  men  of  the  great  Synagogue. 
They  upheld  the  authority  of  tradition  as  superior  to 
individual  intelligence,  and  taught  that  no  Scripture 
should  be  of  unauthorised,  or  private,  interpretation. 
To  use  the  language  of  the  present  day,  the  believer 
was  to  listen  "  to  the  voice  of  the  Church  in  all 
ages,"  rather  than  to  his  own  understanding  of  the 
Scriptures. 

Thus  it  was  from  the  Pharisees  that  the  great  mass 
of  Jewish  literature  proceeded.  The  Sadducees 
referred  back  constantly  to  the  original ;  they  were 
content  with  the  "  Bible  only."  The  Pharisees  handed 
down  the  traditional  interpretations  which  they 
derived  from  the  fathers,  and  commented  on  them. 
Thus  arose  Targum,  Talmud,  and  Apocrypha, 
crystallising  the  thought  of  earlier  teachers,  drawing 
tighter  and  tighter  the  bands  which  bound  down 
the  Jewish  mind,  and  which  gradually  paralysed  its 
freedom  of  action. 

The  mass  of  comment  which  thus  accumulated  was 
not  the  result  of  mere  idle  speculation  or  curious  con- 
troversy. The  true  motive  was  the  conviction  that 
the  right  understanding  of  the  words  of  Moses  was 
all  important.     It  was  necessary  that  not  a  shadow  of 


204  Judas  MaccabcBUS, 

doubt  should  exist  as  to  the  complete  and  accurate 
fulfilment  of  his  commands.  Thus,  in  its  most 
minute  details,  every  ordinance  was  settled  by  a  com- 
plicated system  of  exegesis,  and  a  "  hedge"  was  made 
round  the  Law  itself  to  prevent  even  an  approach  to 
the  forbidden  being  possible  for  the  unwary.  Such 
was  the  not  unworthy  origin  of  that  inflexible  and 
tyrannical  system  which  brought  the  pious  Pharisee 
into  a  bondage  allowing  no  freedom  of  action  even  in 
the  most  trivial  of  his  daily  duties. 

From  the  veneration  with  which  this  school  regarded 
the  Pentateuch,  it  naturally  arose  that  the  Law  came 
gradually  to  be  considered  as  intended  for  all  time, 
and  as  including  all  that  it  was  necessary  for  man  to 
know. 

The  doctrines  not  actually  contained  in  the  Books 
of  Moses  were  elicited  thence  by  a  species  of  logic 
which  we  sometimes  recognise  as  pure  casuistry,  and 
sometimes  fail  at  all  to  comprehend.  It  is  evident 
that  institutions  suited  to  a  pastoral  age  must  have 
proved  insufficient,  or  even  positively  ill-adapted,  in  a 
more  complex  condition  of  society.  The  Pharisee 
escaped  from  such  difficulties  by  the  invention  of 
"  legal  fictions,"  as  in  the  case  of  the  Sabbath-day's 
journey,  or  of  the  law  of  Yeboom,  in  which,  by 
additional  legislation,  the  original  commands  of  the 
Law  were  entirely  evaded.  In  many  cases,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  western  mind  entirely  fails  to  trace 


SheoL  205 


any  connection  between  the  doctrine  of  the  Scripture 
and  the  deductions  drawn  from  it  by  the  Rabbis. 

The  ■  Pharisees  were  divided  into  many  sects,  and 
the  doctrines  of  individual  teachers  were  often  con- 
tradictory ;  but  the  authority  of  tradition,  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  the  Law,  when  rightly  explained,  and 
the  necessity  of  infinite  precision  in  obeying  its  com- 
mands, were  the  main  features  of  doctrine  common  to 
all  grades  of  the  sect. 

The  Pharisaic  teaching  as  to  the  future  was  well 
calculated  to  console  and  awe  those  to  whom  it  was 
addressed.  The  cold  scepticism  of  the  philosophic 
Sadducee  neither  touched  the  imagination  nor  com- 
forted the  heart  of  the  poor.  The  popular  teachers 
spoke  of  a  cavernous  abode  beneath  the  earth — a 
Sheol  or  Hades — where  the  souls  of  Jews,  good  or 
bad  (for  Gentiles,  like  the  brute  beasts,  had,  they  said, 
no  souls  at  all),  awaited  the  final  judgment.  The 
good  wandered  in  Elysian  fields,  with  sunshine  and 
angelic  comforters ;  the  evil  lay  in  a  purgatory 
which  was  to  be  but  the  prelude  to  eternal  agony, 
tormented  in  corporeal  bodies  by  fiery  worms,  and  in 
view  of  a  lake  of  flame. 

To  such  a  fate,  the  Pharisee  taught,  men  were 
predestined  by  God,  though  in  some  respects  their 
destinies  were  due  to  their  own  wills. 

As  to  the  future  which  was  to  succeed  the  actual 
present,   the   doctrines   of   various   schools    differed. 


2o6  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

Some  of  the  more  material  thinkers  expected  an 
earthly  paradise,  peopled  by  Jews  clothed  with  new 
corporeB.1  bodies.  The  reign  of  Messiah  was  to  be 
that  of  an  earthly  King,  ruling  in  Jerusalem.  The 
land  was  to  be  fertile  beyond  all  that  had  ever  been 
formerly  known  on  earth.  Gigantic  grapes,  which 
could  scarce  be  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen  ;  enormous 
ears  of  corn ;  huge  olive  trees,  were  described  in 
language  which  could  not  fail  to  strike  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  populace.  Upon  a  thousand  hills  in  some 
unknown  land  Behemoth  was  fattening  for  the  final 
feast ;  Leviathan  slept  in  the  deeps,  prepared  as  food 
for  the  great  day ;  and  gigantic  geese  in  the  most 
remote  desert  were  seen  by  one  Rabbi  already  fattened 
for  the  millennium. 

Great  longevity,  innumerable  wives  and  children, 
and  unfailing  happiness,  were  promised  to  the  devout 
as  a  recompense  for  present  suffering,  and  for  painful 
fulfilment  of  the  iron  mandates  of  the  Law. 

At  the  other  extremity  of  the  scale  were  those  who 
looked  forward  to  a  spiritual  rather  than  an  earthly 
reward.  They  pictured  the  reign  of  Messiah  as 
following,  rather  than  preceding,  the  destruction  of 
the  present  earth.  The  immortal  spirits  of  the  just, 
together  with  those  yet  living  on  earth  at  the  judg- 
ment day,  were  to  be  caught  up  into  the  sky,  where 
the  new  Jerusalem  would  hang  suspended  a  mile 
above  the  surface  of  the  hills  of  Palestine.    A. heavenly 


Origin  of  Monasticism.  207 

temple  with  a  continual  service,  a  companionship 
with  the  saints  of  past  ages,  and  the  felicity  of 
beholding  the  Divine  face  for  ever,  were  the  promised 
blessings,  according  to  the  more  transcendental  of 
Rabbinical  writers. 

Such,  then,  was  the  double  tendency  of  Jewish 
orthodoxy  after  the  extinction  of  the  Hellenising 
heresy,  and  such  were  the  principal  schools  which 
disputed  together  in  the  time  of  our  Lord.  There 
were,  however,  two  other  sects  which  require  some 
description,  as  being  the  direct  and  natural  outcome 
of  the  gradual  growth  of  Jewish  civilisation.  The 
first  was  the  sect  of  the  Essenes ;  the  second,  the 
school  of  Hillel.  Like  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees, 
both  these  smaller  sects  were  orthodox  in  their 
acceptance  of  the  Law,  and  in  their  rejection  of 
foreign  customs ;  but  they  differed  in  their  apprecia- 
tion of  the  adaptability  of  the  Law  to  the  existing 
wants  of  the  nation. 

We  have  seen  that,  from  the  time  of  the  expulsion 
of  the  Hellenists  and  the  extinction  of  the  family  of 
Onias,  heresy  ceased  to  spread  or  to  exert  any  power 
in  Palestine ;  the  nation  shrank  back  from  any 
contact  with  strangers,  and  turned  its  eyes  inwards 
from  beholding  the  vanity  of  Gentile  philosophy  and 
idolatry. 

It  is  true  that,  under  Herod,  the  Jews  were  forced 
to  see,  without  any  audible  murmur,  the  re-introduc- 


2o8  Judas  Maccabcsus, 

tion  of  heathen  games  into  Jerusalem.  It  is  true  that 
a  sect  arose  of  time-serving  Herodians,  who  thought 
it  permissible  to  "  bow  the  knee  to  Rimmon,"  and  to 
conform  to  the  laws  of  a  foreign  political  power  which 
they  had  no  strength  to  resist — a  sect  which  was 
vigorously  opposed  by  the  fanatical  Zealots  who 
refused  to  recognise  any  King  but  Jehovah.  But 
these  were  questions  of  politics  rather  than  of 
religion,  and  the  result  of  an  antagonism  between 
Judaism  and  the  Gentile  world,  not  of  any  such 
attempt  to  harmonise  philosophy  with  faith  as  had 
been  made  by  the  Mizraimites  and  Hellenists  before 
the  revolt  of  Judas. 

Yet,  although  the  observance  of  the  Law  was  con- 
sidered, after  the  attainment  of  freedom,  to  be  the 
most  important  duty  of  every  Jew,  it  is  clear  that,  as 
society  developed,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  land 
increased,  it  was  no  longer  generally  possible  to  devote 
the  whole  life  to  the  religious  observances  demanded 
by  that  Law,  which  had  been  so  much  more  easily 
fulfilled  in  the  old  days  of  pastoral  existence  in  the 
wilderness.  Hence  originated  that  tendency  to 
seclusion  from  the  world  which  we  mark  also  in  the 
earlier  Rechabites,  dwelling  in  tents,  and  owning 
neither  lands  nor  houses. 

The  successors  of  the  Rechabites  were  the  Essenes, 
who  first  appear  in  history  at  the  time  of  the  assump- 
tion of  royal  dignity  by  Aristobulus,  son  of  Hyrcanus, 


The  Essenes.  209 


or  about  a  century  before  the  Christian  era.  In 
Egypt,  the  same  movement  among  the  Mizraimites  is 
marked  by  the  appearance  of  the  contemplative 
Therapeutae,  who  were  much  like  the  modern  Indian 
Fakirs. 

Among  the  Essenes  we  find  the  monastic  spirit 
fully  developed,  and,  in  many  respects,  we  trace  so 
close  a  resemblance  to  the  early  Christians,  that  we 
are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Apostles  must 
have  made  many  converts  among  the  Essenes,  even  if, 
under  the  name  of  Essen,  Josephus  does  not  describe 
the  disciples  of  Christ.  As  indicating  the  monastic 
character  of  the  sect,  we  may  point  to  their  austerity 
and  seclusion,  to  their  vows  of  chastity,  their  charit- 
able actions,  their  initiation,  and  various  grades  of 
sanctity.  From  Pliny  we  learn  that  the  Essenes 
inhabited  the  Judean  desert,  dwelling  in  those 
numerous  caves  which  are  now  found  throughout  its 
extent.  The  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Christians  of 
Apostolic  times  are  chiefly  the  non-observance  of  sacri- 
fices, community  of  goods,  and  prohibition  of  oaths. 

The  Essenes  had  no  fixed  or  abiding  city.  In  every 
town  they  appointed  some  one  to  help  and  entertain 
those  of  their  own  sect  journeying  through  the  place. 
In  their  conventual  establishments  they  wore  a 
peculiar  white  dress  and  distinctive  girdle,  and  were 
employed  in  husbandry  during  the  intervals  of 
religious  exercise  and  purification. 
o 


2  10  Judas  Maccabceus, 

The  doctrines  of  the  Essenes  were,  however,  tinged 
by  foreign  influence.  In  their  neglect  of  the  Temple 
sacrifices,  and  in  their  condemnation  of  wedlock,  they 
departed  from  the  full  observance  of  the  Law.  They 
were  even  not  free  from  the  ancient  Mehistanite 
heresies  brought  from  Babylon.  They  preserved  care- 
fully the  "  names  of  the  angels,"  which  the  Rabbins 
say  were  first  learned  by  the  Jews  during  the  captivity. 
Josephus  notices  their  veneration  for  the  sacred  rays 
of  light,  and  Philo  says  that  they  turned  towards  the 
rising  sun  to  pray.  They  were  complete  fatalists,  and 
believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  souls  of  both  good 
and  bad — a  belief  which  was  not  common  to  the  large 
majority  of  the  nation,  who  believed  only  in  the 
immortality  of  the  righteous.  The  resurrection  they 
understood  with  Philo  to  be  the  liberation  of  the  soul 
from  bondage  in  the  body,  when,  bursting  as  from  a 
prison,  it  should  mount  upwards  with  joy.  They 
also  approached  the  Egyptian  school  in  their  allegori- 
cal interpretation  of  many  parts  of  Scripture. 

The  seclusion  of  life  which  marked  the  Essenes— the 
natural  result  of  the  growth  of  Jewish  civilisation — 
rendered  them  peculiarly  venerable  in  the  eyes  of  the 
multitude.  To  the  poor  they  were  known  as  skilled 
herbalists  and  charitable  physicians.  In  the  towns 
the  white  garments  of  the  ascetic  might  occasionally 
be  seen  ;  and  the  awe  of  the  populace  was  enhanced 
by  traditions  of  prophecies  which  had  been  made  by 


The  School  of  Hillel.  2 1 1 

various  Essenes,  and  which  had  been  fulfilled  in  a 
most  remarkable  manner.  The  respect  for  constituted 
authority,  which  was  part  of  the  initiatory  vow  of  the 
order,  rendered  the  Essenes,  moreover,  less  obnoxious 
to  the  ruling  class  than  the  turbulent  Pharisees  or  the 
impracticable  Zealots.  Such  was  the  character  of  the 
first  monastic  order  which  appeared  among  the  Jews, 
and  of  which  the  main  peculiarities  were  but  repeated 
in  the  Christian  hermits  and  monks  of  the  fourth 
century  of  our  era. 

The  great  institutions  of  the  Law  of  Moses 
which  were  intended  to  bring  peace  and  order, 
and  to  prove  a  blessing  to  the  nation,  became, 
through  nervous  terror  of  transgression,  a  curse 
rather  than  a  boon.  Year  by  year,  and  decade 
by  decade,  the  bondage  became  more  grievous,  and 
the  iron  bands  were  drawn  tighter.  The  human 
intellect  was  dwarfed,  the  human  will  was  deadened, 
by  the  growing  accumulation  of  minute  and  trivial 
observances  imposed  on  the  devout  by  the  self-tortur- 
ing ingenuity  of  their  teachers.  Chinese  etiquette 
is  scarcely  less  irksome  than  were  the  prescriptions  of 
the  Pharisees ;  and  it  was  not  in  human  nature  to 
bear  for  ever  patiently  the  tyranny  of  the  narrow- 
minded  and  fanatical,  who,  like  the  followers  of 
Shammai,  "  made  the  Law  heavy." 

Thus  we  are  led  to  understand  the  origin  of  the 
third  great  orthodox  school,  which  found  a  leader  in 


212  Judas  MaccabcBUS. 

the  illustrious  Hillel.  This  great  man,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  a  descendant  of  the  House  of  David,  came 
to  Jerusalem  from  Nehardea,  in  Babylonia,  in  the 
very  year  in  which  the  last  male  descendant  of  the 
Hasmoneans  was  murdered  by  Herod  the  Great.  He 
had  already  distinguished  himself  by  arranging,  in 
six  books,  the  innumerable  treatises  of  the  Mishna,  or 
second  law.  He  had  been  brought  up  in  the  atmo- 
sphere of  the  Zoroastrian  religion,  which  had  many 
points  of  attraction  for  the  Jew,  notably  its  detestation 
of  graven  images.  He  had  been  exempt  from  the 
narrowing  and  deadening  influence  of  the  Jerusalem 
school.  Thus  with  Hillel  arose  a  form  of  doctrine 
which,  though  near  akin  in  system  to  that  of  the 
Pharisees,  was  yet  marked  by  a  nobler  and  more 
generous  interpretation  of  the  meaning  to  be  attached 
to  the  words  of  Moses.  Many  of  the  recorded  sayings 
of  Hillel  breathe  the  same  spirit  which  is  found  in  the 
teachings  of  Christ;  and  his  disciples  "made  the 
Law  light,"  not  because  they  lightly  esteemed  its 
authority,  but  because  they  revived  the  nobler  and 
more  beneficent  spirit  of  the  original. 

While  such  was  the  internal  growth  of  the  nation, 
its  external  relations  are  also  worthy  of  a  slight 
notice. 

The  first  result  of  the  revolt  was  the  expulsion  of 
the  Hellenists  from  Palestine,  and  their  dispersion  in 


yewish  Influence  on  the  Gentiles.        213 

Egypt,  Syria,  and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago. 
The  energy  of  the  national  character,  one  of  the 
most  marked  traits  of  Jewish  nature,  urged  many  of 
the  more  adventurous  to  wander  even  as  far  as  Greece 
and  Rome.  From  the  centre,  which  never  ceased  to 
exist  in  Babylonia,  the  Jews  spread  over  Asia  Minor 
and  towards  India  and  the  Caucasus.  The  remnant 
of  the  other  tribes  of  Israel  which  did  not  return  to 
Samaria,  was  in  the  same  way  dispersed,  and  Jewish 
jealousy  at  Jerusalem  originated  the  idea,  which  is 
still  so  commonly  believed,  that  the  ten  tribes  never 
returned  to  Palestine,  but  were  lost  in  an  unknown 
country,  where,  according  to  mediaeval  Jewish  writers, 
they  still  existed  as  a  nation. 

Jewish  influence  on  the  heathen  world  is  marked 
by  the  connection  between  Jewish  and  Roman  litera- 
ture. It  was  due,  perhaps,  to  two  main  causes.  In 
the  first  place,  they  presented  the  striking  spectacle  of 
a  people  perfectly  and  irrevocably  convinced  of  their 
own  superiority  and  of  their  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
They  came  amongst  listless  speculators,  cynical 
sceptics,  and  dreaming  philosophers,  and  announced 
the  certainty  of  their  own  faith. 

In  the  second  place,  they  brought  a  pure  and  noble 
conception  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  Divinity 
amongst  those  who  were  wearied  by  the  vain  and 
blasphemous  fables  of  a  corrupted  mythology.  The 
augur  who  met  an  augur  might  mock  secretly  the 


214  Judas  Maccabcetis, 

credulity  of  the  multitude ;  the  Jew  who  met  a 
Jew  could  only  complacently  admire  their  common 
superiority  in  knowledge  and  piety  to  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  force  and  energy  of  character  peculiar 
to  this  wonderful  people  thus  imposed  respect  on  even 
the  aesthetic  Greek  and  the  proud  and  philosophic 
Roman. 

Such,  then,  were  the  important  historical  results  of 
the  heroic  struggle  which  had  been  brought  to  a 
successful  issue  by  Judas  Maccabseus. 

The  insidious  advance  of  Hellenism  was  arrested, 
and  the  heresy  was  crushed  for  ever  in  Palestine. 
The  Jew  was  left  free  to  follow  the  religion  of  his 
forefathers  without  fear  of  persecution. 

The  study  of  the  sacred  books  then  became  so 
intense  that  the  nation  fell  at  last  into  a  bondage  of 
its  own  creation,  and  by  the  time  of  Christ  the  burden 
became  too  heavy  to  be  borne. 

The  growth  of  civilisation  naturally  developed  a 
tendency,  among  the  more  pious  and  contemplative, 
towards  seclusion  from  the  busy  world,  and  thus 
fostered  the  birth  of  the  monastic  spirit. 

Finally,  a  natural  reaction,  from  the  narrowness 
of  the  Pharisaic  doctrine,  produced  the  school  of 
Hillel ;  and  thus,  by  the  Christian  era,  it  was  becom- 
ing clear,  to  the  nobler  minds  among  the  Jews,  that 
the  religion  of  the  future  was  to  be  found  neither  in 
the  cold  and  often  cynical  materialism  of  the  Sad- 


Finis.  2 1 5 

ducee,  nor  in  the  hollow  formalism  of  the  Pharisee, 
endeavouring  to  tie  the  living  faith  of  the  present  to 
the  dead  body  of  the  past,  and  to  revive,  by  the  plea 
of  authority,  the  obsolete  doctrines  of  a  less  cultivated 
age ;  but  that  it  was  to  be  found  in  the  right  under- 
standing of  the  spirit  of  Scripture,  and  in  the  belief 
in  those  ancient  yet  ever  new  doctrines  of  God's  love 
for  His  creatures,  of  the  fellowship  of  all  nations,  and 
of  the  duties  of  man  to  man  throughout  the  world. 

Had  Antiochus  Epiphanes  stamped  out  the  Jewish 
faith,  no  such  development  would  have  resulted. 
Had  Judas  Maccabseus  lacked  the  genius  through 
which  he  triumphed,  the  lessons  of  love  and  duty 
which  were  taught  by  Christianity  would,  humanly 
speaking,  never  have  been  proclaimed  to  the  world. 


APPENDIX. 

GENEALOGY  OF   THE   HASMONEAN   FAMILY. 
Hasmon,  of  the  sons  of  Jehoiarib. — i  Chron.  xxiv,  7. 
Johanan. 

Simeon. 

I 
Mattathias,  died  167  B.C. 

I                              p                         ^                     ^        j  f 

Johanan              Simon                 Judas                  Eleazar  Jonathan 

(Caddis).           (Thassi).          (Maccabgeus).         (Avaran).  (Apphus); 

d.  161  B.C.     d.  135  B.C.          d.  161  B.C.          d.  163  B.C.  d.  143  B.C. 

\ • 

I  I  I  1 

Judas.  John  (Hyrcanus).         Mattathias.         Daughter  =  Ptolemy, 

d.  135  B.C.         d.  iq6  B.C.  d.  135  B.C. 

\ 

II  I  II 

Aristobulus  L       Antigonus.       Alexander  (Jannaeus).       Son.       Son. 
d.  105  B.C.  d.  105  B.C.       d.  78  B.C.  =  Alexandra. 


I  I 

Hyrcanus  II.  Aristobulus  II. 

d.  30  B.C.  d.  49  B.C. 


Alexandra  =  Alexander.  Antigonus.. 

d.  28  B.C.    I  d.  49  B.C.  d,  27  B.C. 


Mariamne  =  Herod  the  Great.  Aristobulus. 

d.  29  B.C.  d,  35  B.C. 


INDEX. 


"Abomination  of  desolation,"  82. 
Adasa    described,     148 ;    battle    of, 

150. 
Adida,  new  fortress,  174. 
Agficultural  operations,  45. 
Akra,    or    Millo,    citadel   built,    82; 

described,    113;    garrison   starved 

out,  177. 
Akrabbim,  battle  of,  119. 
Alcimus,  the  High  Priest,  142. 
Alexander  Balas  lands  at  Ptolemais, 

167  ;  takes  Antioch,  169. 
Alexander  the  Great  visits  Jerusalem, 

11;  founds  Alexandria,   12;  dies, 

13- 

Alexander  J annaeus,  193. 

Alexandria,  59. 

Ancient  Palestine,  40. 

Antiochus     Epiphanes     usurps    the 

throne,  14;  dies,  131. 
Antiochus  the  Great,  14. 
Antiochus  Sidetes,  181, 
ApoUonius  persecutes  the  Jews,  81; 

dies,  89. 
ApoUonius  Daiis,  170. 
Architecture,  Jewish,  43. 
Arms  and  armour,  49. 
Art,  Jewish,  28. 
Ashdod,  battle  of,  171. 
Aspliar,  pool,  163. 
Atonement,  day  of,  34. 
Azarias  defeated,  128. 

Bacchides  enters  Jerusalem,   146; 

fortifies  J udea,  165. 
Berzetho,  scenery  near,   157 ;  battle 

of,  158. 
Bethhoron,  battle  of,  91. 
Bethsura,    battle   of,    99;    invested, 

138  ;  taken  by  Simon,  173. 


Beth-Zacharias,  battle  of,  136. 
Bezeth,  or  Beth-Zetho,  146. 
Bozrah  taken  by  Judas,  122. 

Cabbala,  64-66. 
Caphar  Salama,  battle  of,  147. 
Cedron,  battle  of,  179. 
Cendebeus,  179, 
Character  of  peasantry,  48, 
Character  used  in  writing,  23. 
Chasidim,  87 ;  execution  of,  145. 
Chronology,  18. 
Coinage,  i88,  193. 

Dametha,  123. 

Daniel,  Book  of,  199. 

Demetrius  Nicator  lands  in  Cilicia, 

170;   takes  Antioch,    171;   killed, 

171. 
Demetrius  Soter,  145. 
Dispersion  of  the  Jews,  213. 
Dress,  Jewish,  49. 

Education,  Jewish,  26, 
Eleasa,  now  Il'asa,  155. 
Eleazar  Avaran,  85  ;  dies,  139. 
Elephants,  138. 
Emmaus,  battle  of,  96. 
Essenes,  209. 

Feasts  and  fasts,  33. 

GORGIAS    defeated    by  Judas,    92 ; 

defeats  the  Jews,  129. 
Government,  Jewish,  24. 
Gymnasium  at  Jerusalem,  78. 

Hasmonean  family,  85 ;  genealogy, 

216. 
Hazor,  battle  at,  173. 


2l8 


Index. 


Heathen  festivals,  79. 
Hebron,  taken  by  Judas,  130. 
Heliopolis,  temple  at,  144. 
Hidiut,  or  "ignorant,"  22,  35. 
Hillel.  212. 

Jason,  his  innovations,  49;  builds  a. 
gymnasium,  78 ;  dies  in  Sparta, 
17- 

Jerusalem  described,  no. 

John  Hyrcanus,  governor  of  Gezer, 
180;  destroys  Samaria,  183;  be- 
comes a  Sadducee,  192  ;  dies,  193. 

Johanan  Caddis,  85  ;  killed,  164. 

Jonathan  Apphus,  85 ;  flies  to  the 
desert,  163 ;  decoyed  by  Trypho^ 
174;  killed,  175. 

Joseph  ben  Zacharias,  120;  defeated, 
128. 

Judas  Maccabaeus  kills  Apollonius, 
89  ;  defeats  Seron,  91,  and  Gorgias, 
96,  and  Lysias,  99,  and  Idumeans, 
119;  takes  Bozrah,  122;  becomes 
High  Priest,  142;  defeats  Nicanor, 
147;  his  vision,  149;  dies,  158;  his 
character,  159. 

Karaites,  56,  201. 

Language,  Hebrew  and  Aramaic, 

22,  35.  60. 
Lysias    left    viceroy,    92 ;     besieges 

Jerusalem,  139. 

Maccabeus,  "the  hammerer,"  85. 

Marriage,  birth,  and  death,  39. 

Mattathias  kills  the  Greek  Commis- 
sioner, 86;  alters  Sabbath  law,  88; 
dies,  88 ;  advice  to  his  sons,  89. 

Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  11. 

Menelaus,  15,  tj. 

Messiah,  68,  197;  Malhamah,  loS; 
prophecies  concerning,  198. 

Millennium,  views  concerning,  206. 

Miriam  strikes  the  altar,  82. 

Mizpeh,  gathering  at,  95. 

Modin  described,  84;  tombs  at,  176. 

Motza,  feast  of,  79. 


Music,  Jewish,  28. 
Mythology,  Jewish,  57. 

Nan^a,  temple  of,  92. 
New  moon,  32. 

Nicanor  defeated  by  Judas,  147; 
killed,  150. 

Onias  flies  to  Egypt,  142;  builds  a 

temple,  144. 
Orders  of  priests,  30. 

Pastoral  life,  47. 
Pharisees,  57,  203. 
Poetry,  Jewish,  29. 
Prophet,  expectation  of  a,  70. 
Ptolemy,  sonofAbubus,  180. 
Purim,  feast  of,  151. 

Rome,  contemporary  history,  153  ; 
league  with  Jews,  154 ;  league 
renewed,  173. 

Sabbath  law  altered,  88. 

Sadducees,  56,  201. 

Samaritans,  70 ;  dispute  with  Jews, 

73- 
Science,  Jewish,  27, 
Semitic  character,  52. 
Septuagint  translat;on,  13,  6t,  73. 
Seron,  90. 
Simon    Thassi,    85,     120 ;     war    in 

Galilee,  127;  watches  Trypho,  175; 

his  death,  180. 
"Standing  men,"  31. 
Synagogue  service,  26. 

Temple  of  Jerusalem  in  ruins,  102  ; 

purified,  103  ;  service  renewed,  104. 
Timotheus,  the  Ammonite,  124, 
Trypho  takes  Antioch,  172;  decoys 

Jonathan,  174. 

Wisdom  of  Solomon,  6>j. 
Women,  position  among  the  Jews, 
38. 

Zeidaniyin,  family  of,  116. 


Marcus  Ward  &  Co.,  Roval  ulster  Works,  Belfast. 


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